A Matter Of Time
by Starway Man
Summary: Tara Maclay meets Xander Harris during the summer of 1998. Many things turn out differently during his senior year of high school. [COMPLETE]
1. Any Witch Way You Can

**Date written: **Sun Jun 3 2007

**Author:** Starway Man

**Emails: **theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au

**Feedback:** As they say, it's the coin of the realm. So please tell me what you thought of it.

**Acknowledgments:** Thanks to Nodakskip, Francis Eugene and Greywizard for beta'ing this fanfic, and all the input in terms of ideas and plot development. And thanks to Buffyworld too, for the transcripts consulted in the writing of this story.

**Category:** AU, Action, Adventure, Angst, Romance

**Disclaimer:** And it was written that the Lord decreed high from exalted Heaven, "be fruitful and multiply" (by using Joss's TV show for your own fanfic purposes). And so I did, hoping that no one would sue for copyright infringement as it was all just for harmless non-profit fun. As always, those parts of the story that are more or less taken from the episodes obviously belong to the writers in question. All references to the Belial siphon spell from the BtVS novel "Apocalypse Memories" belong to Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz. The mentioned characters Diana Dormer and Sensei Kanno are from the BtVS novel "Go Ask Malice" and belong to Robert Joseph Levy, likewise Lupe the maid from the BtVS novel "The Deathless" belongs to Keith R. A. DeCandido.

**Rating: **R

**Main characters**: Xander, ensemble

**Warnings: **There are some very adult concepts mentioned in this fic, including sexual references, bad language, violence, addiction, suicide and character death.

**Summary: **Tara Maclay meets Xander Harris during the summer of 1998. Many things turn out differently during his senior year of high school.

**Title:** A Matter Of Time

* * *

"Witches can't be allowed to alter the fabric of life for selfish reasons. Wiccans took an oath a long time ago to honor that."

(Tara Maclay, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)

"But somewhere, people all forget what a mess youth is. It's a time of magic all right, and there is nothing more unreliable or annoying than magic."

(Lorne, ANGEL)

"O God! Put back Thy universe, and give me yesterday."

(The Silver King: Act 2 Scene 4, 1907)

* * *

**Part One: Any Witch Way You Can**

**UC Sunnydale, California**

**July, 1998**

Alexander or 'Xander' Harris got out of the van belonging to his friend Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, and looked around the community college campus. It was summer vacation, but there were still a few students walking around here and there. The 17-year-old boy glanced at them with only slight curiosity: they weren't why he was here today.

Xander's little visit to UC Sunnydale was due to the girl known as Buffy Anne Summers, the vampire Slayer. She who was the Chosen One, called upon by the higher powers to defend the world from the forces of evil. Two months ago Buffy had run away from Sunnydale to God only knew where, after averting the apocalypse involving the demon known as Acathla.

After the conventional 'missing person' procedures had turned out to be a complete bust, Harris had inevitably figured that magic was the best possible tool to help him find Miss Summers. The young man knew that without the teenage guardian of the Hellmouth, the vampires were out there killing and turning people every night, so he had to find the runaway Slayer and bring her home.

Xander had briefly toyed with the notion of asking his friend Willow Rosenberg to do a locator spell, or whatever the mojo was called, to find the missing Buffy. But at this critical fork in the road, he decided against that idea.

Instead, Harris had talked to the young woman named Amy Madison, an apprentice witch who had once cast a love spell at his urging. Despite their bad history (due to the blackmail factor and the love spell backfiring incredibly badly), Amy had suggested Xander check out the UC Sunnydale Wicca Club after admitting her own efforts to find Buffy Summers had failed.

A few moments after getting out of the van, he heard someone say, "Xander? Is that you?"

Harris turned to see a familiar male face staring at him. "Jonathan?"

"Yeah," the short, geeky-looking Mr. Levinson replied in that distinct nasal voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, looking for the campus Wicca Club. I, um, I hear they meet on Tuesdays," Xander explained somewhat lamely. Even though they knew each other, the two weren't exactly close and Jonathan wasn't a member of Buffy's inner circle of friends; therefore, Harris felt uncomfortable confiding anything Slayage-related to the other teenager. But he knew he had to say something and it was usually best to stick as close to the truth as possible.

Jonathan could feel Xander being selective with the truth, but since he was even more of a social outcast than Harris was he quickly shrugged it off. "Yeah, me too. I mean, not that I'm a warlock or anything. I, um, I'm just gathering information for a story that I'm writing. For the Sunnydale High school newspaper. After senior year starts up," Levinson babbled to his classmate.

Xander just stared at him. "So, are we gonna do this?" Jonathan asked timidly.

"Yeah. Yeah, lead the way," Xander nodded, as he started to follow the dark-haired nerd after waving farewell to Oz and the rest of his friends.

* * *

**Richmond Hall, UC Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Xander stood near the doorway and stared at the fourteen young women sitting on the floor, all of them humming in unison. He ignored Jonathan at his side, who was frantically scribbling notes. Harris was trying to decide who, if any, of these practitioners to approach for help.

The humming finally stopped and one of the club members said, "We come together, daughters of Gaia, sisters to the moon. We walk with the darkness, the wolf at our side through the waterfall of power to the blackest heart of eternity." She paused, opened her eyes and stared at the others. "Hey, I think we should have a bake sale!"

( _What?_ ) Xander thought to himself in surprise, as all the other girls in the circle seemingly woke up as well. ( _A bake sale?_ )

One of the gathered femmes said, "Well, I don't know..."

"Come on! You guys like a bake sale, right? I mean, we need money for the dance recital, and you know how I do a really empowering lemon bundt cake," the first girl said eagerly.

"I think the most important thing is the Gaian newsletter. We need to get the message of blessing out to the sisters, y'know? Also, who left their scented candles dripping all over my women power shrine?" another woman piped up.

( _I don't believe this,_ ) Xander thought to himself in disgust, as the club members started to chatter amongst themselves. ( _Is that all they're interested in? These wannabe's wouldn't know how to do a spell even if the magic got up and bit them on the ass! I'm obviously wasting my time here._ )

He turned to go, but mistakenly trod on Jonathan's foot. The little man yelped in pain, which got the attention of the Wicca gathering. "Excuse me, but what are you two doing here? This is a private meeting!" one of the females said snootily.

After apologizing to Jonathan, Xander stared at her, and the so-called Wiccan instinctively shut up at his expression. Harris said cuttingly, "Well, I was looking for a witch to do a locator spell for me. Y'know, to help me find a missing friend. Too bad you guys are more interested in food and dancing."

"Hey, that's not true! We're all about female empowerment! And we have a bacchanal coming up!" the brunette club member riposted.

"Good for you," Xander said dismissively. "But in the meantime, I need me the real deal." He turned around again to leave.

"Do you have a personal item of the missing person, a-and a scrying crystal?"

Xander swivelled to stare at the young woman who had hesitantly spoken up. One of the other girls frowned at the shy blond, "Tara, what are you talking about? You know, stereotypes are not very empowering!"

Tara Maclay, a new arrival to UC Sunnydale, simply blushed and looked down. The only reason she had ever joined this club was that it was the same one her mother had once been a member of, and Tara had been hoping that the relaxed atmosphere would allow her to make friends with like-minded people. Even though that hadn't happened so far.

The other club members started talking about witch-hunts and prejudice and Eurotrash and whatnot, but Xander paid them no heed. The one who saw everything somehow knew that this 'Tara' person was the woman he'd been looking for today.

* * *

**Rocket Café, UC Sunnydale**

**Ninety minutes later**

"So basically, that's the situation. Look, you think you can help me or not? I mean, I don't have much money, but whatever I've got – I'm willing to spend it in order to find Buffy, and bring her home where she belongs."

Tara looked at the guy sitting across from her at the table within the dining hall. Xander seemed sincere, but Miss Maclay's experiences with the men in her family – not to mention the belief she would become a demon on her 20th birthday – made her more than a little reticent to get deeply involved with him. "Well, l-locator spells are kinda tricky. I, I've heard that the best results are u-usually achieved with a blood sample of either the p-person you're looking for, or a c-c-close relative. Is that a problem?"

"Yeah," Xander groaned. "I mean like I said, Buffy's gone, and I don't wanna approach her mom about something like that. Who knows how she'd react, Mrs. Summers still totally blames herself for her daughter running away."

Tara shrugged. "Well, what about h-hair samples, or skin, or something like that?"

Xander shook his head. "The last witch I went to, this girl named Amy Madison? She didn't have any luck with those sorts of things. Not that I was around personally at the time of course, 'cause magic and me..." Xander shuddered. "Well, let's just say we don't get along. Seriously. Especially in the love spell department."

Miss Maclay's interest was piqued, despite her initial distrust. So she made her decision. "Bring me what you can, this is where my dorm is." Tara scribbled down an address on a napkin before handing it over to her companion. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll do whatever I can to help."

Xander suddenly smiled at the Wiccan, a heartfelt gesture that almost seemed to light up the room. "Thank you, Miss Maclay. Really, this means a helluva lot to me. So I'll see you later tonight, say around seven-ish?"

Tara couldn't help it, she smiled back at Xander. "Okay. See you then."

* * *

**Watchers Council Headquarters, London, England**

**The next day**

Quentin Travers was an extremely worried man.

Well past his fiftieth birthday he was not yet the head of the Council, although his intellect and stature had made him a trusted confidante of the current big boss, and it had put him in line for the throne in roughly another two or three years. As such Quentin had been one of the first to hear the news yesterday, the news that had gotten the entire organization into almost a complete uproar.

"Ah, Wesley, right on time. Come in and have a seat, we have things to discuss."

The younger Englishman adjusted his glasses and his immaculately tailored suit before sitting down. Quentin noted with approval how his former protégé had finally learned how to act properly in the presence of his superiors; namely, doing what he was told without giving his betters any lip about it. "Now then, I take it you've heard the rumors?"

"Who around here hasn't?" Wesley Wyndam-Pryce replied. The pompous young Brit knew better than to openly sneer at Travers, but the tone of his question still got the message across.

Quentin ignored it. "Then I shan't bore you with the details. But to put it bluntly, the seers have confirmed how a Belial siphon spell has been performed at some point in the future, undoing God only knows how many years of history in its wake. It's now your job, along with a number of other Watchers being sent out into the field, to determine the details regarding who, why, when and where. Once you have your answers, you'll inform me at once. Is that clear?"

Wesley did not immediately reply. Like all Watchers, he knew the Council had expressly forbidden anyone ever using that spell, as the Belial siphon was the ultimate bogeyman with regard to both white and black magic. Everyone who was anyone knew that once the magicks were unleashed by the spellcaster, there was no way to control just how much of the past would be erased in order to create a new future.

Whoever had performed that spell up the line had gambled with humanity's very existence, as the Belial siphon literally could have undone...everything. Right now, the entire universe could have been just a loose collection of protons and electrons floating aimlessly in a dark void, if anything had gone wrong with the casting.

"A question if I may," Pryce said, quickly focusing. "Is there any time limit to the assignment?"

Travers nodded. "You have six months, starting today. I expect weekly reports as well. Now hop to it, boy, you've got a lot to do and not all that much time in which to do it."

Hiding his true feelings behind an expressionless mask, Wesley just nodded once before he got up and exited the room.

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale **

**The same time**

The magic dealer known as Rack restlessly prowled around in his private quarters, thinking about what to do.

Like many other magically oriented types in the world, he had felt the Belial siphon's impact almost like a psychic scream in his head when the wheels of destiny had changed direction. The warlock suspected that all the major players were now making a big fuss about what had happened. What that meant for him personally, Rack wasn't sure: there was a chance this would all just blow over soon and then life would go back to normal.

Then again, there was always the chance that some bigwigs would come to town and end up interfering with his business, which would not be good for his bottom line.

Finally, Rack decided to forget about it for now and think about what to do tomorrow. So he walked out of his personal chambers and stared around the waiting room. The area looked fairly run-down with some old sofas and chairs, and a number of young people who looked like they were all strung out on drugs. "Who's next?"

One of the girls present got up and said urgently, "Rack, Rack, it's my turn!"

The young man next to her glared at the female teen with open contempt. "No way, I was up next!"

"Bull! I've been here for hours!" The girl then turned to the magic dealer. "Please?"

Rack grinned. "Ladies first," he said simply as the male teenager sat down in a huff. Rack then led the girl into his private chambers. "So what'll it be?"

"Everything you've got." The girl suddenly seemed pathetically eager to get her fix.

"Oh, now that'll cost you-"

"Here! Take it. And I can get more. Just please, give me what I need to make the pain go away!" The girl threw money at Rack like it was toilet paper.

Rack smiled as the magical sparks erupted from his right hand. "As you wish, kid." He almost touched the girl's chest, then the magic flowed out of his hand into her as the girl's eyes went black. The female slowly levitated upwards, a look of ecstasy on her face from the spell Rack had just performed, as the man decided to lay down on his sofa.

Rack counted his money and then put it away, never once looking in the direction of his customer who was now writhing in delight. It mattered little to the warlock that this teenager's life was on the road to ruin thanks to his handiwork; he'd already been paid for services rendered, and there was another one born every minute.

TBC...


	2. Love Spell

See Part One for disclaimer and details. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed so far, please - keep 'em coming.

* * *

**Part Two: Love Spell**

**East End, London, England**

**November 24****th****, 1998**

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce ventured into the depths of the Council facility, and stared at the imprisoned vampire known as Drusilla.

The Watcher was no longer the arrogant amateur he had once been, the man whose supernatural experience had been limited to facing two vampires under controlled circumstances was no more. Wes had seen and done too many things in the pursuit of Quentin Travers' orders: he had tried to communicate with the Spirit Guides, he had attempted to speak with the creature known as Beljoxa's Eye, and he had interrogated a number of people that were members of a coven in Devon in order to carry out his duty.

Wesley had even encountered an assassin who'd wanted to join the Order of Taraka, after an informant had told him that the hired killer might have the information he sought, and somehow lived to talk about that particular duel to the death.

But in the end, all of his efforts had gotten Wyndam-Pryce precisely nowhere. One of his friends, a man named Robson, had subsequently suggested a more 'unorthodox' approach to the problem. Which had led to the capture of one-fourth of the infamous group of vampires that had terrorized Europe back in the 19th century, and Wesley's current presence here in one of the Council's dungeons.

"Is she going to wake up soon?" Wes asked as Robson joined him.

"Shouldn't be long," the other Watcher shrugged. "Tranquillisers don't work that well on the undead, after all."

"Very well," Wesley frowned. "All right then, go on. I'll handle it from here."

"You sure?" Robson asked.

"Yes. Go."

The man nodded and left the room, walking up the stairs. Wesley waited till Drusilla woke up and then he said roughly, "Can you understand me, vampire?"

The insane creature didn't appear to take any notice of Wes at first. "Can't see him no more," Dru muttered. "My poor William, he speaks to the stars. No more dancing with the daffodils and the princess."

Wesley frowned. His aim was to try to get Drusilla to talk about anything to do with the previous timeline, assuming she had the knowledge he sought, but the human wasn't sure if this had anything to do with that. "I take it you're talking about William the Bloody, the childe you sired back in 1880? The vampire also known as Spike?"

"Oh, my precious Spoike. No more tea parties for 'im. My dollies will be all so sad," Drusilla mumbled.

Wesley decided to change his approach somewhat. "You were sired by the vampire known as Angelus during 1860, who was also the one who gave you the name of Drusilla. In life, you were the human being known as Anne Fairfax-"

"Poor little Anne," Drusilla interrupted Wesley. "Her mummy ate lemons, raw. Loved the way they made 'er mouth tingle, she did. She loved custard and brandied pears, and pomegranates. They used to make her face and fingers all-l-l red."

Wes was beginning to get annoyed. "What do you know about the future? The one that now will be, and the one that would have been if not for the Belial siphon spell?"

Suddenly Drusilla began to laugh, a vision appearing within her mind. "Oh, my precious kitten! The Queen of Cups has put 'er mark on you, she has." Then she scowled, "The witch, the witch, the wicked redheaded witch! Oh, she's got so much to answer for..."

Wesley sighed. This was obviously going to take a LOT longer than he'd been anticipating.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**November 26****th****, 1998**

A lot had happened in Sunnydale in the months since Xander Harris had met Tara Maclay.

Rack finally got over his concerns and really began raking in the cash from his customers. Buffy Summers eventually came home an emotional wreck from her four-month LA adventure, not long after senior year started. Xander and Tara had privately gotten together often over the course of those months in the search for her, but maintained only sporadic contact afterwards, a distant friendship but nonetheless still a real one.

Back in October, the new Slayer named Faith Lehane had arrived in town, with the vamps named Kakistos and Mr. Trick hot on her heels. Faith had put on a good show of appearances, but deep down she'd been terrified of the Greek Freak and rightly so. Buffy had helped the brunette Chosen One slay the ancient cloven-hoofed vampire out to suck the very marrow from their bones, and finally decided to get on with her own life as well.

The problem with that, though, was that Angel was returned from Hell by one of the Powers That Be after spending one hundred subjective years being tortured there. Buffy had found him, and subsequently hidden his presence from the rest of the gang. Which was probably why Miss Summers had failed to notice how Willow and Xander had entered 'more than friends' territory during Homecoming, even though those two were both dating other people.

After the Band Candy incident, and then the revelations that Angel was back and Faith's new Watcher had been an evil fake, Xander had finally confessed to Tara what he had been up to with Miss Rosenberg. Miss Maclay had subsequently advised Harris to simply end it before he made things even worse, once the witch learned that he didn't want to choose Willow over Cordelia.

( _Okay. I can do this,_ ) Xander thought to himself as he paced in the library. ( _It's real simple. I'll just go up to her and say, "Willow, it's over. That whole illicit smoochies thing between us is now officially a thing of the past." Then we can simply join Cordy and Oz for an evening of innocent, fun-filled bowling. What could go possibly wrong?_ )

* * *

**Dragon Cove Magic Shoppe, Sunnydale**

**Not long after sunset**

Spike wandered into the establishment, feeling hung over and pissed.

Drusilla had left him ages ago in Brazil before getting caught by the Council, and he'd been reduced to nothing but a shell of what he'd once been because of that. William the Bloody's fragile and demented sire had been his entire world ever since the British vamp had staked his undead mother 118 years ago. Spike had figured that he and Dru would be together forever, occasionally drowning the world in blood and making love in between till the planet itself came to an end.

Alas, but that alliance with the Slayer months ago against Angelus had ruined everything. Spike now had nothing to live for after Drusilla's rejection, and he'd been spending his nights trying to drink himself into oblivion because of it. A futile task, given the whole immortal creature of the night deal, but one he was investing quite a bit of effort into.

The shopkeeper soon found him looking at one of the books. "Did you come in through the back?" she asked, looking around in confusion.

"Yeah," Spike growled. He had come to a decision about what to do regarding Dru. "Look, I'm after a curse."

"A what?"

"A curse!" Spike yelled in exasperation. "Y'know, for something nasty to be inflicted. Boils, maybe. Pustules. Leprosy, that sort o' thing. I wanna go for the gusto here!"

"I'm sorry, but here at the Dragon Cove, we're, uh, we're not really into that sort of activity," the storeowner said hesitantly. "I've heard there's a place downtown that may be more suited to what you're after."

"Yeah?" Spike dropped the book. "So whereabouts is it, exactly?"

"I'm not sure, I've never actually been there myself-" She broke off as the doorbell jingled, and Willow walked in. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

"Fine." Spike ducked behind a bookcase as soon as he saw the familiar redhead.

"Blessed be," the shopkeeper said pleasantly. Willow was a regular customer after all. "So, what'll it be today?"

"Here, it's all on the list," Miss Rosenberg replied.

The shopkeeper frowned as she examined the piece of paper. "Willow, some of these ingredients are used in a variety of love spells." Spike suddenly pricked up his ears at that little tidbit of information and he became quite interested in their conversation. "Honey, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Oh yeah," Willow replied at once. "I mean...I know how to do a love spell, but this is more of an anti-love spell. Yeah. Uh, kind of a de-lusting thing. The supplies are basically the same, right?"

The shopkeeper nodded, recalling another customer's interest in such a thing. "Basically, although raven feathers tend to breed a little more discontent than canary. Let me just change that for you..." The woman quickly bagged Miss Rosenberg's purchase after the ingredient alteration. "That'll be $16.40 for the lot."

"Great, thanks." Willow paid the bill, then grabbed her supplies and left.

The shopkeeper turned around, and was confronted by the nightmare visage of Spike's vampire features. Before she even had time to scream, the peroxide-blond demon sank into his fangs into her throat and quickly drained her, dragging the body down to the floor.

Spike then leapt up, wiping his lips and grinning like a madman. "The hell with that bloody curse, Dru, I've got me a better idea."

* * *

**Sunnydale High Science Lab, Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Willow was working away with her potions and powders in the classroom, and Xander was trying to figure out how to tell her about his recent decision. Playing around with the canary feather, he suddenly noticed something familiar about the pages Willow was working from and stepped around her to get a better look. "Is that a spell book?"

Willow frantically tried to obscure it with her hand. "No, no, no! Chemistry book."

Her efforts were pointless though as Xander said accusingly, "Wait a minute. This is love spell stuff! You're doing a love spell?"

"No! Of course not! This is a purely scientific..." Willow babbled as Xander picked the book up and read its title, which was 'Witchcraft'. "...de-lusting spell for us. I thought it would go better if you didn't know."

Xander was more than a little annoyed as he said, "Are you nuts, or have you forgotten that I tend to have bad luck with these sorts of spells?"

"But you said you wished that these feelings would just go away!" Willow replied desperately.

"Well, we don't need to resort to the black arts in order to do that, believe me!" Xander told her. "Look, Willow, this whole 'us' thing? I was going to tell you anyway tonight that it's over. As in no more kissing, no more groping, from now on we're just good friends. So I'll see you later at the bowling alley with Cordy and Oz." Harris then walked to the door, switched on the lights and left the girl behind. In more ways than one.

( _Damn it,_ ) Willow sighed as she stared at the mortar and pestle. ( _Then again, maybe it's all for the best..._ )

"Hullo, Red."

Willow was filled with instant terror, as she turned around and saw Spike standing where Xander had been less than a minute before. "Spike? I, I thought you left town..."

"Yeah, well, now I'm back." William the Bloody slowly advanced towards her. "Need yer help on something, actually. Don't mind helpin' out an old friend, do you?"

"No, of course not-" Willow said automatically. Then she blinked, waking up to reality. "Uh, what, what did you have in mind?"

"A spell," Spike slurred, taking a long swallow of whiskey from his bottle. "A spell, pet. That's what I need. I'm gonna get back what's mine, I am. Teach her to walk out on me."

"Her? Who's her?" Willow asked tentatively.

"DRUSILLA, you stupid bint!!" Spike roared, vamping out. "You can do that, right? You can make Dru love me again? Make her crawl back to me on her hands and knees?"

Willow knew nothing about what Wesley was currently up to in merry old England, so she said feebly, "Well, I can try."

Spike grabbed her by the neck. "What do you mean, try? You'll bloody well do it!"

"Yes, I'll do it!" the terrified Willow nodded.

Spike let go of her and in a drunken rage smashed his bottle against the classroom workbench. He then grabbed Willow again and threatened her with the sharp edges. "You lie to me, and I'll shove this through your face! You want that?"

Willow shook her head, utterly petrified. "No..."

"Right through to your BRAIN!" William the Bloody snarled.

"No, please, no..." Willow's pleading tone was now pitiful. "I'll do whatever you want! Okay?"

Abruptly, Spike turned off the threats and resumed his human face. "All right, then. Get started." He let her go, and gestured to Willow's nearby spell book. "And hurry up, ducks. Don't have all night."

Reluctantly, Miss Rosenberg began to gather her supplies and opened the spell book to the right place. She knew several things: one, she'd never even attempted anything like this before. Two, Spike wasn't likely to be in a very forgiving mood if it didn't work. And three, she had better not try the same spell Amy had done back on Valentine's Day, or else Spike would kill her the moment a love-crazed Buffy threw herself at the British vampire.

"Now, I've not exactly an expert at this, y'know. I-I-I can't guarantee it's gonna work right away," Willow confessed to the undead guy.

"That's all right, luv," Spike shrugged. "If at first you don't succeed, I'll kill the hell out of you."

Willow gulped, and resumed her preparations. After a grumbling Spike had handed over a sample of his blood, the redhead incanted her magic spell. A brilliant emerald-green light subsequently erupted out of the bubbling glass beaker above the Bunsen burner, startling both Spike and Willow the millisecond before hurling both of them to the floor.

The light moved outwards in an ever-expanding 360-degree circle, losing intensity as it did so. By the time it reached the exterior of the school building, the circular light had already diminished to the point of invisibility. But the magical power it represented remained as strong as ever, and the spell quickly engulfed the entire town.

Willow and Spike slowly and hesitantly got up. As soon as they laid eyes on one another, both vampire and witch engaged in a mad, passionate and frantic kiss.

"I love you," Willow and Spike both whispered at the same time, before they went back to making out and tearing at each other's clothes.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Parking Lot, Sunnydale**

**Two minutes earlier**

"Where the heck is she?" Cordelia said impatiently, tapping her foot. "I didn't even want to do this, and now Willow is flaking out on us?"

"I'm sure she won't be long," Xander told her soothingly. "Will was just, uh, finishing off something in the science lab. I was right there barely a few minutes ago."

"I'll go get her," Oz decided, as he trotted off in that general direction. Xander and Cordy subsequently engaged in small talk till the spell hit; and then, it was as if they'd lost all control of themselves as their hormones surged and the romantic fireworks began.

Sunnydale High's most mismatched couple had no idea that Willow had botched the love spell so that everyone "fell in love" with the first person they saw after getting hit by the magicks. In the case of Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase the spell amplified what was already present, with the effects being most profound.

Not far away, the first person Oz saw was...Harmony Kendall.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Science Lab, Sunnydale**

**November 27****th****, 1998**

Long after midnight, Willow and Spike were still oblivious to everyone and everything except each other. Thanks to the love spell, they had also engaged in the traditional sort of activity when two people felt this way about one another. They had gotten dressed again afterwards, though; the classroom was a bit too cold for Willow's taste to remain naked after losing her virginity to William the Bloody.

"You know, Spike, I've often wondered about something that Angel mentioned once. Do people really get a rush out of being bitten, if it's done right?" Willow asked.

Spike frowned. "Don't wanna talk about that nancy boy, pet. He uses way too much hair gel, and he wears lifts."

"But is it true?" the redhead really wanted to know.

Spike stared into Willow's sea-green eyes with his own blue ones. "Willow, my sweet, precious plum. I could never harm a single hair on your head, don't you get that? I'd fight to the death to protect you, I would-"

At that moment Amy Madison found the enthralled duo as she entered the lab. She had come to the school looking for Giles, but the man had gone on a retreat out of town. Amy hadn't known who else to go to once she'd realized that the entire town was under some sort of love spell; and the only reason she wasn't affected was because the teenage witch had taken the precaution of casting a protection spell on herself, after the last fiasco back in February.

"Willow, I've been looking everywhere for you! Did Xander get you to do a new love spell for him?" the Madison girl demanded.

"Droopy Boy?" Spike demanded, reminded of Angel's little 'gift' during Parent-Teacher Night. He angrily went into game face and Amy instantly recoiled upon seeing it.

( _Oh dear God, he's a vampire?!_ ) she thought to herself. ( _All right, all right, don't panic..._ )

Willow blinked. "Xander? No, of course not." She shrugged. "Okay, I did try to do a love spell earlier to get Drusilla back for Spike, but it totally bombed. Well, I mean, that was before he and I realized that we were soul mates."

Amy shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Willow, trust me. Your spell worked, just not the way you thought it would. So we need to reverse it, people's lives are in danger from not being able to think straight! Come on, you remember what happened back on Valentine's Day don't you?"

Willow frowned, remembering all too well. She stared at Spike, "Do you think she's right? That all this is just a spell?"

"Oh, piffle," Spike said comfortingly as he went back to his human mask. "But look, darling, if it makes ya feel better go ahead and undo what 'appened earlier on. It won't make any difference to me. To us."

"Oh, Spike, I love you so much!" the young woman exclaimed happily. Willow subsequently gave him a deep kiss full on the mouth. One that the former poet returned with a great deal of enthusiasm, due to a mix of sexual desire and bloodlust.

Amy waited till Willow and Spike were done, then said hesitantly, "Let's do this then."

* * *

**Sunnydale High Science Lab, Sunnydale**

**A while later**

It was almost sunrise before the two witches were finally ready to proceed. Spike had gotten bored and wandered off for a walk, something Amy was glad had happened. Once the spell was undone, if she was right there was going to be one pissed off Master vampire looking for revenge, and she had no intention of becoming vamp chowder.

"Okay, I think we're ready. Let's do this," the young woman said to Willow.

The redhead turned towards the door, "I'll go get Spike-"

Miss Madison had no other choice: she had to punch Willow out cold. Amy winced, "Oh, that's gonna hurt later. And in more ways than one."

Amy sighed, then squared her shoulders and began to chant. When she was done, there was another explosion of light: but this one was pale blue in color, and it quickly spread out the same way and undid the original magicks invoked all those hours ago.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Parking Lot, Sunnydale**

**A few seconds later**

A freaked-out and semi-nude Harmony Kendall ran away from Oz's van, as the werewolf musician actually made an expression and said to himself, "Huh."

* * *

**Sunnydale Motor Inn, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Cordelia Chase woke up naked alongside an equally naked Xander Harris, and looked around at her surroundings and her partner. She then started screaming her lungs out in that cramped and sweat-soaked motel bed.

* * *

**UC Sunnydale, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

There was a loud crash as Tara Maclay threw a statuette into the mirror, completely ashamed and disgusted over the lewd acts she'd committed tonight. Since the first person she'd seen when the love spell had hit was herself, given how she'd been staring into said mirror; which was now just a million shards of broken glass.

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**A while later**

Rack, who had been mystically protected from the effects of Willow's love spell just like Amy, finally managed to stop laughing about what had happened to the rest of the town. "Gotta love that wacky Hellmouth."

* * *

**Clearing at the top of Breaker's Woods, California**

**A few hours later**

Giles fiddled with the volume control of the radio. "And in local news, the town of Sunnydale has been quarantined due to some sort of chemical leak from the nearby Army base under the command of Colonel Samuel Newsome. Apparently the town's citizens underwent some bizarre behavioural changes last night, with everything ranging from violence to sexual promiscuity. Local authorities have issued a statement addressing the situation, but the Army has yet to officially make any comment. In the meanwhile, Sunnydale has effectively shut down for the day. All schools and businesses are closed, and residents are being advised to stay at home and rest up. The Mayor's office has ordered the entire town remain sealed, until the chemical is identified and all the symptoms disappear. We'll bring you more on this ground-breaking story as it develops."

"Oh, bugger!" was the Englishman's only comment as he stared at the radio.

* * *

**Somewhere in southern California**

**Later that day**

Spike was in a bad mood, as his black '59 DeSoto tore along the highway.

After being released from the love spell, he had wanted to kill and dismember and indiscriminately bathe in blood for all the indignities that had been heaped upon his person. In particular, the vampire had wanted to rip Willow apart so badly he could taste it. But before Spike could head back to the science lab he'd heard the approaching voices of Angelus and the bloody Slayer, and without minions or a power base, he'd decided discretion was the better part of valour and all that rot.

Since the odds were that the witch would be unapproachable for the foreseeable future, Spike had subsequently chosen to get out of Sunnydale for now and strike later when nobody expected it. Besides, after he'd sobered up he'd known what to do with regard to Drusilla. Find her, tie her up and torture her until his sire liked him again.

( _That's all it'll take, I'd wager. Just be the same Spike she fell in love with all those years ago,_ ) the vampire thought in satisfaction. ( _Hang on, pet, I'll find you soon enough._ )

* * *

**East End, London, England**

**The same day**

Within the Watcher prison facility, Wesley finally gave the order for Drusilla to be exposed to the sunlight after three days of listening to her lunatic babbling.

TBC...


	3. Fallout

See Part One for disclaimer and details. Thanks to those people who have reviewed, of course. By the way I got an email, a rather angry one actually, saying that Willow and Oz wouldn't have acted that way during the love spell; it was massively OOC for those two to just start humping the closest body around and not even think of one another. Not sure what to say to that, other than Buffyverse magic can and does have unanticipated consequences.

* * *

**Part Three: Fallout**

**City Hall, Sunnydale**

**November 29****th****, 1998**

The vampire known as Mr. Trick wasn't happy. But then he didn't have much reason to be, ever since Faith had killed Kakistos and he had eventually ended up a minion to the Mayor of Sunnydale.

It wasn't just the annoyance of working for a white man, even if Richard Wilkins was starting to feel less and less like a 'man' with every passing day. It wasn't even being treated like an office boy on occasion, or a retarded child thanks to that weird fetish of "cleanliness is next to godliness" thing which the Mayor had going.

Most of Trick's current ire had to do with the fact that he had "fallen in love" with a fellow vampire three nights ago, and his issues of being an undead 'top' or 'bottom' were something best left unmentioned at this point in time.

The black vampire schooled his face into a neutral expression as he arrived at the Mayor's private office and knocked on the door. Once he had permission to enter, Trick did so. "You sent for me?"

"Indeed, I did, Mr. Trick. Sit down, make yourself comfortable," Wilkins said in his usual manner. "And before we get started, I just want to say thank you. Yes sir, thank you indeed for stepping up and taking over Allan's old job like this."

Trick stared at the original father of Sunnydale after dropping into his seat. "The honorable Deputy Mayor Finch should have known better during that meeting of his, deciding to score with one of my people. 'Cause a female vampire not of the Caucasian persuasion can be a mite...ornery to deal with, afterwards." Then he grinned, "But still. With that spell and all, what a way to go..."

"Yes, well, I think that's enough on that particular subject. I am a family man, after all." Wilkins looked absurdly pious in Trick's opinion, but the vampire knew better than to say that to his employer's face. "Moving on. Everything's in place to finally lift the quarantine, I take it?"

Trick nodded. "Local school kid named O'Toole with the right reputation, he's been set up to take the fall for all this. Paid off someone who'll swear to seeing him break into the Army base that night, and committing his antisocial acts against the good citizens of Sunnyhell. No loose ends on that part of it."

"Good, good." The Mayor didn't look entirely happy with that information, but Trick had no idea why. And even if he had known it was because Olvikan wouldn't be able to munch on the high school psychopath when Wilkins ascended in about six months, the black vampire most likely wouldn't have cared.

"And that other matter?" Richard added.

"Counselling centre's been set up for the blood bags, the usual rape victim and unwanted pregnancy stuff. There's also some marriage counselors in the mix for the people who cheated while under the effects of the spell." Trick shook his head, "Still kinda hard for me to believe I've actually set up that sort of the thing. And according to the grapevine, some vamps are thinkin' of taking advantage of the facilities to talk to someone about their free will being violated-"

"No," Wilkins interrupted frostily. "I won't risk someone losing their temper and killing one of the counselors, not with all the media attention. Pass the word along, Mr. Trick: if you or any of your boys and girls attend those sessions, there'll be a little trip to the woodshed happening afterwards. Clear?"

Mr. Trick suppressed a feeling of anxiety. ( _Don't show any fear, damn it. This cat will smell it like a shark smells blood in the water._ ) "Perfectly, Mr. Mayor."

"Good. Then let's open Sunnydale up to the public again. Liaise with the CDC, show them your evidence that the 'chemical spill' has been cleaned up and is expected to have no lasting effects, and we can finally get back to business around here."

Mr. Trick, Master vampire in his own right and childe of the legendary Kakistos himself, was definitely getting tired of the lackey treatment. But for now, he obeyed orders and quickly departed the Mayor's office.

* * *

**Hammersmith Park, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Buffy was being held up against a tree, her legs dangling and kicking in vain as she tried to get loose from the evil demon that had its hand wrapped around her throat. "Nnnrrf! Nnnrrf!"

Xander charged the enemy but the demon casually knocked him away, a big blob of mucus hitting Harris in the face before he landed in the dirt. Luckily, Faith was also present with a big ol' knife, and she hit the bad guy directly where it hurt. The mucus-y demon fell down dead at once, taking a gasping Buffy with it.

Faith helped her fellow Chosen One up. "You okay, B?"

Miss Summers tried to get her breath back. "Yeah, thanks. Just gimme a sec..." Then she noticed her best male friend. "Xander? How about you?"

"Oh, I'm peachy," Harris wisecracked as he got up, wiping away the demon mucus. "Because hey, this is more fun than being under that kooky love spell, like any day of the week."

Buffy winced at Xander's tone. The Slayer knew it was lucky how she had been with Angel when the mojo had hit and they were used to restraining themselves; otherwise, God forbid what would have happened. Angelus on the loose again was the last thing anyone around here needed. "Either of you guys thinking of attending those counselling sessions?" she asked.

"No way," Xander replied at once. "If Cordy's parents ever hear that I spent the night with their daughter in the bedroom sort of way, then I am the deadest man in the state of Deadonia!"

"Nothing I was planning to attend, either," Faith shrugged. She had moved on after that particular three-way with a couple of chess club geeks, which was not entirely unexpected for her.

"Either of you have any idea what's happening with Willow? I mean, she was a no-show yesterday as well," Buffy asked.

Xander snorted, "Like that's a surprise? Buffy, Willow's a complete mess after what happened, just like Oz. Why else do you think I asked Giles to talk to both of them? He's the closest thing to a counselor they'll be able to confide to about any of this."

"You're right," Buffy replied, secretly glad that Willow wasn't completely catatonic after joining her as a member of the 'I've Had Sex With Vampires' club. "And while we're on the subject, thank God my mom didn't do it with the next door neighbour. But honestly, Xander, what about you and Cordy? You should talk to someone about this too-"

"Not without talking to her about it first," Xander interrupted firmly.

"You guys STILL haven't sat down and hashed it all out?" Faith demanded.

"I've tried to get in touch with her, but I swear she's been avoiding me. Well, tomorrow's Monday, so hopefully I'll be able to corral her somehow in between classes," Xander replied optimistically.

"Good luck with that," Faith said cheerfully.

As it turned out Xander was only imagining things, and he and Cordelia quickly cleared the air between them. But the brunette girl also made it clear that she hadn't been ready for sex with him yet, and so he wouldn't be getting lucky again anytime soon. It didn't matter that it had been the most incredible night she had ever experienced in her life so far. Some things Miss Chase just couldn't be rushed into, and her boyfriend dipping his asparagus into her vichyssoise was one of them.

Thus Xander's little affair with Willow ended very differently from the way it otherwise would have, with no one other than Tara ever even knowing about it. And the vengeance demon known as Anyanka was never summoned to Sunnydale...

* * *

**Demon lair, Europe**

**January 7****th****, 1999**

It was a scene straight out of the worst parts of Dante's Inferno.

In a dull and gloomy cavern there existed quite a number of human prisoners; people who were being tortured by demons. Tortured in fashions known to the Inquisitors of old, and in ways which even those experts had never had an inkling.

Some were being twisted apart on three-dimensional frames. Others were being stretched to snapping point on racks. A few were being drawn and quartered, chains intermittently but relentlessly tearing their limbs off. Still others were being lowered into pits containing liquid of intolerable temperature or corrosiveness, or were attacked by a foul-smelling vapour that ate away their tissues little by little.

If one had the sight, it would have been possible to see the demons in charge of the operation emitting multi-colored beams towards their dying prisoners. These beams touched the auras of the victims, and clung with grim determination. As they clung the white auras shrank and, in some cases, eventually vanished altogether.

The demons were ghoulishly feeding on the ebbing souls of their human prey, and they were enjoying every single moment of their sadistic orgy.

Feeling nauseated at the sight of all the inhuman atrocities, not to mention the screams of the damned that constantly assailed his ears, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce nonetheless stubbornly went in. He was looking for someone, and stealthily began searching for his target. The Watcher had few illusions about remaining forever undetected, despite the masking spells he was using; and luckily for Wes, his backup provided cover fire once the inevitable happened and he was discovered.

The demons were thus kept busy, even though the Council wet-works team knew that wouldn't last long. "Hurry up, Pryce!" the man named Weatherby shouted.

Wesley ignored him, as he finally found the man he was after. "The Belial siphon spell?"

The prisoner was too far gone to be rescued, and he knew it. He'd lost a hell of a lot of blood, over half of his skin had been flayed off and all of his limbs were broken in various places. Wesley couldn't do anything for him except put him out of his misery, and they both understood that.

"The Hellmouth," the psychic croaked out, before blissfully escaping this version of Hell on Earth the only way he could.

Wesley ran for it, the men known as Smith and Collins just barely able to prevent a demon from getting its claws on him as the Watchers escaped a nightmare that even Satan himself would be somewhat challenged to match.

* * *

**Watchers Council Headquarters, London, England**

**The next day**

Quentin Travers finished examining the reports, and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

The Council official was getting concerned about Wesley. Because Quentin was a politician, and politicians always made long-term plans to achieve and maintain power. Thus, the man was already thinking about when he would become head of the organization and would need like-minded people in high places. Unfortunately young Wyndam-Pryce, although having been groomed to one day become part of the inner cabinet, was getting a bit too fond of 'field work' if this latest report was anything to go by.

Travers knew that the six-month time limit he had imposed with regard to investigating the Belial siphon spell expired today, yet his former apprentice was still checking out the Berlin Hellmouth, doggedly determined to find his answers. It was laudable of the man in one sense; in Quentin's opinion far too few Watchers took their oaths and duties seriously enough these days. And yet, there was the nagging suspicion that Wesley's assignment had turned into an obsession for the young whippersnapper. And that simply wouldn't do at all.

Travers grabbed some older reports on his desk, and gave them a quick once-over. The Council regularly monitored the news coming out of Sunnydale, and so had become aware of the situation when that love spell had been performed. Quentin had been surprised though, when Rupert's report a day or so later had placed the blame on William the Bloody of all people.

And then, about a month afterwards, Angelus himself had had an encounter with the entity known as the First Evil. Whether that was connected to what the Scourge's grandchilde had previously gotten up to, Quentin didn't know. But the miraculous appearance of snow in southern California during Christmas had made Travers wonder if someone or something was trying to find a way to recreate whatever it was the Belial siphon spell had erased.

( _Well, at least both women of that particular vampire pack are dust now. The females were always the more dangerous members of the group. Even though the job won't be fully done till both their men join those blasted wenches._ )

Finally Quentin made a decision. He would recall Wesley to London and have him study up on both Spike and Angelus, or Angel, or whatever the damned thing wanted to call itself these days. Travers had the feeling those two were definitely going to be trouble for him at some point in the future.

And with the Cruciamentum coming up for Miss Summers soon, if Rupert failed to pass his part of the test...Wesley might just be the perfect choice to send over there to replace him.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School Corridor, Sunnydale**

**January 13****th****, 1999**

Xander Harris was feeling very uneasy about current events.

Not in the romantic department, oddly enough: here and now, his relationship with Cordelia was stronger than ever, and Oz and Willow had finally gotten over what had happened with that love spell and moved on with their lives together. Luckily, Harmony had done her best to simply repress what had happened that night despite the bass guitarist's coolness factor. Not only did she not want to be known as the girl who'd stolen Willow's boyfriend, Miss Kendall had as many issues about having sex under the influence as Cordelia did.

Be all that as it may however, two nights ago Buffy and her mother Joyce had found two murdered children after a run-in with a vampire. The marks on the hands of that little boy and girl had suggested a ritual murder by a human cult rather than a bogeyman monster, which was unusual for Sunnydale.

Joyce had wigged out as expected. But then she had unexpectedly come to the high school the next day, and that night, when a vigil for the dead kids had been held at City Hall, Mrs. Summers had turned it into a pep rally for 'let's take this town back from the monsters and the witches and the Slayers'.

To be honest, Xander didn't get it. Human beings got murdered all the time around here, children and adults alike, and always before the Hellmouth had made people blind and deaf to the perpetually increasing number of unnatural deaths. So why wasn't it doing so now? Like Tara had told him over the phone, something funny had to be going on.

As Xander walked along the school corridor, he saw a gang of five jocks threaten Amy and her warlock friend, Michael Czajak. He quickly walked towards them, the white knight mentality surfacing. Once they saw the Slayerette, though, the football and basketball players backed off and left, not wanting witnesses.

"You guys okay?" Harris asked the two.

"Yeah," "I'm fine," were the hurried replies as Amy and Michael quickly left him.

Xander frowned. ( _That...that wasn't just ordinary bullying. It was more like those guys were targeting a victim, Rodney King style. What is going on here?_ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale**

**Not long after sunset**

Xander had almost literally no time to think about what was going on, as the usual Hellmouthiness suddenly reared its ugly head. First there was the student locker search, and both Amy and Willow got into trouble with all the rising anti-witch hysteria. Secondly, Giles had all his research books confiscated by the police with a gloating Principal Snyder present to witness the whole beautiful show.

Then Buffy discovered that her mother was behind it all, as Joyce was the founder of MOO. Which stood for Mothers Opposed to the Occult – an organization that had sprung up to try to stamp out the things in Sunnydale it didn't like, or didn't conform to society's normal standards. The Slayer knew her mom was only trying to help, but Joyce's meddling really was proving to be a major cramp in her style and the blonde girl wasn't reluctant to inform her parental unit of that at all.

Over at the Rosenberg residence, Willow got grounded after telling her mother that she was a witch and that she now had a boyfriend as well. Sheila Rosenberg, who was the type of mom who really should have had a case study instead of a baby, initially thought her daughter was making some sort of political statement before deciding Willow was trying to be a teenage rebel instead. So the Jewish woman grounded her child for an extra week, just to make sure that she didn't speak to the town's subversive elements or 'Bunny' Summers again.

Back at the library, the Scoobies finally got lucky as they discovered that a demon was behind all the fuss lately. A so-called Hansel and Gretel demon, incredibly enough, which was the original source of the fairy tale back in 1649 Germany. It was a creature that thrived on getting mortals to hurt and kill each other.

Which was why Michael the warlock eventually stumbled into the Slayage HQ, his gait unsteady and his nose bleeding badly. "Is, is this a safe place for me to hide?"

"What happened to you?" Xander demanded.

"I was attacked!" the young man said, wiping away the blood and smearing the white makeup on his face.

"By who?" Buffy demanded.

"My dad, his friends. They're taking people out of their homes, and I heard 'em talking about a trial down at City Hall. They got Amy!" Michael wailed.

"My God, this has become a witch-hunt. Most likely a-a-a mob will gather there to dispense what they'll consider to be justice, f-for the so-called child killings," Giles stammered.

"Willow," Oz said simply.

"And Tara!" Xander yelped, concerned about his secret friend.

"Who?" the others asked in confusion.

"Uh, I'll explain later. Michael, stay here and keep outta sight. Buffy, go find your mom; take Giles with you and make her understand what's goin' on so we can put a stop to this. Oz, you go find Willow, I wanna check on Tara!" Xander issued orders before running out of the library, cursing the fact that Faith had left town for a trip to LA and was unavailable to help.

The others looked a little confused at Xander abruptly taking charge like this, but still proceeded to do what he said.

* * *

**Summers residence, 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

Oz was unfortunately too late to warn his girlfriend of the danger. Willow had already been abducted by her own mother by the time he got to the Rosenberg house, and the girl in question ended up a prisoner at City Hall. Buffy and Amy also ended up there; the Chosen One unconscious and scheduled to be burned at the stake alongside her companions.

Xander had better luck at UC Sunnydale, Tara had kept underneath the radar well enough that no one had thought to target her and the other club members. They had all decided back in November to establish a low profile, given how much that love spell had adversely affected everyone. Cautioning the blonde Wiccan to lock the door and maintain appearances of normality, Harris then yanked Cordelia away as they headed for Buffy's house in her car.

"What the-?" Xander said upon arriving at the two-storey home. The door was wide open, as if someone had left in a hurry. He and Miss Chase went in, and Harris was even more surprised to find Buffy's Watcher on the floor. The British man had been knocked out cold. "Giles?"

"Giles, wake up!" The brunette girl started slapping his face to wake him up.

Rupert finally did so and catching her arm said, "That's enough! I'm awake."

Cordy grunted as she got up, "Well, it's about time! My hand hurts."

"Xander, Cordelia, w-what are you doing here?" Giles wanted to know.

"What do you think? Things are getting majorly out of control out there," Miss Chase said in annoyance as Rupert struggled to his feet. "First what happened at the school, then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles. Xander drags me away to check on some girl I never even heard of before, then we come over here to find you all unconscious. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, Giles, one of these days you're going to wake up in a coma."

"Wake up in a coma?" Xander echoed, looking at his girlfriend peculiarly.

"Come on! We've got to get back to my apartment to obtain the supplies I need, and then head for City Hall!" the Watcher shouted.

* * *

**City Hall, Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Buffy finally woke up, amidst the pleas from Amy and Willow to the mob for them to be released. "What-?"

Joyce beamed cheerfully at her daughter, completely under the influence of the Hansel and Gretel demon. "Good morning, sleepy head."

Buffy could easily put two and two together as she looked around and saw how the three of them were tied to the stake. "Mom, you don't want this..."

Her mother looked somewhat annoyed at hearing that. "Since when does it matter what I want? I wanted a normal, happy daughter. Instead, I got a Slayer." Sheila handed Joyce a torch with which to light the bonfire and the blonde woman said to her, "Thanks! This has been so trying, and you have been such a champ."

"Oh, you too, Joyce," Mrs. Rosenberg replied perkily.

"We should stay close. Have lunch," Joyce offered.

Sheila nodded. "Oh, I'd like that. It sounds very nice."

The book pile kindling was finally set aflame, and Willow for one knew the fun and games were over. "No! Don't do this. This is murder!"

"Mom, don't!" Buffy pleaded with Joyce.

Miss Madison decided to take matters into her own hands. "All right! You want to fry a witch? I'll give you a witch! Goddess Hecate, work thy will!" Her eyes changed colour, becoming entirely dark red. Lights started to spin around her as Amy chanted, "Before thee, let the unclean thing crawl!"

The lights intensified and then disappeared as Amy's body vanished and her clothes fell to the floor. Willow and Buffy subsequently saw a rat run out of the pile of clothing and escape through the startled crowd.

Buffy said despondently, "She couldn't have done us first?"

"Buffy, it's getting hotter!" Willow replied, starting to panic.

At the moment, the two supposedly dead children appeared. "They hurt us," the little girl said.

"Burn them!" added the little boy.

There was a brief disturbance near the back, as Oz tried to force his way through. "No! Stop!" he shouted.

Various members of MOO quickly grabbed and restrained the male teen. The full moon wasn't due for weeks yet, and the werewolf was Joe Normal apart from those three nights a month. So Oz could only struggle and watch as the flames leaped higher.

"Buffy! I can't take it anymore! It's too hot!" Willow screamed.

"I'm sorry, Willow..." Buffy started to say, preparing herself for death.

Just then, a miracle arrived in the form of her friends. Xander, Giles and even Cordelia showed up, and Harris instantly smashed the glass door of the nearby firehose box.

"Stop him!" Joyce yelled to her followers.

The young man quickly turned on the water, and sprayed the gathered people with the pressurised liquid to force them back. Cordelia went to release Buffy and Willow, as the people holding Oz finally let go and he rushed towards the captive females as well. Giles started chanting in German, casting a spell to make the demon appear in its true form and release its thrall on the townspeople.

"Xander! Water!" Cordelia yelled. The flames were now too high to safely approach any closer.

"On it!" he yelled back, and quickly doused the flames. The rescuers then quickly got to work.

Giles saw the so-called 'children' approach him, and quickly finished the spell. He then smashed a potion bottle on the floor at their feet. As the fumes enveloped them, the pair turned to each other and embraced. Their outlines quickly shifted and grew, changing into one huge-ass demon.

"Okay, that's different," Xander muttered to himself, momentarily taken aback at the demon's unorthodox reaction.

"Oh my God!" Joyce said, eyes wide as she was released from the demonic mojo. The rest of the MOO organization suddenly decided the climate would be more congenial elsewhere and began running away.

"Protect us! Kill the bad girls!" the giant demon growled with an inhumanly deep voice.

"Yeah, y'know what? Not as convincing in that outfit," Buffy muttered. As the demon charged towards her, with her hands finally free Miss Summers grabbed the wooden pole she'd been tied to and shoved it into the demon's left eye as soon as it was close enough.

"And they all lived happily ever after. Oh, and that's no fairy tale," the blonde Slayer quipped in relief as the Hansel and Gretel demon fell down dead.

* * *

**UC Sunnydale, California**

**January 14****th****, 1999**

"So you really think you can de-rat Amy?" Xander asked.

"Yeah," Tara nodded, attempting to concentrate. "I think so." The Amy rat was on the table, and the Wiccan knew enough about animal transmogrification to know it wasn't going to be easy to reverse what the female teenager had done to herself.

Xander got the unspoken message to be quiet. It had taken quite a lot of effort on his part to make Willow give up the witch-turned-rodent, and he had finally confessed about Tara's existence as well. Willow had been annoyed at him for that, but then she'd calmed down once he'd promised to introduce them and have Miss Maclay give her some pointers on the magic stuff.

Finally after all the proper preparations Tara chanted the Italian spell, "Cio che fu fatto disfa. Passato e il pericolo, finita e la minaccia. Metti le cosa a posto."

Red lightning briefly flashed, then Amy morphed back into human form. Sitting naked on the edge of the table with her legs pulled up to her chest, the young woman suddenly screamed, "AGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Amy looked somewhat freaked at her sudden transformation, then the girl noticed her nakedness.

"Clothes!!" she screamed again.

Xander tossed her some threads, making sure to keep his eyes averted and cursing himself for not taking that part of it into consideration. "Bathroom's at the end of the hall on your left."

Amy didn't waste time on a reply; she just tore out of the dorm as fast as she could. Xander shrugged and said, "Well, that was the kind of fun that's not. Look, Tara, I gotta go. That is, if you're gonna be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah, Xander, I'll be fine," Tara said tiredly. The spell had drained her of a lot of energy. "I'm just gonna get some rest and sleep it off. I'll, I'll see you and your friend Willow tomorrow."

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Michael stood before Rack defiantly. "I came here because I wanted to talk to you," young Mr. Czajak said.

"About what, kid?" The magic dealer had a somewhat lazy smile on his face as he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sick of living like this," the boy replied angrily. "I want to be able to stand up for myself, and not let people just push me around or beat me up whenever they feel like it. I want you to help me increase my powers, both offensive and defensive. And I'm willing to pay you to do it. So what do you say?"

Rack gestured behind him. "Step into my parlour, and we'll talk."

TBC...


	4. New Arrivals In Town

See Part One for disclaimer and details. Hey, big thanks to those people who keep reviewing this story. Glad you're enjoying it.

* * *

**Part Four: New Arrivals In Town**

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**February 8****th****, 1999**

Quite a few things had happened over the last month or so, the way they usually did around this time of year.

For example, Xander had been stunned to learn that Tara was gay after all those months of knowing her. Ira Rosenberg had sprayed soup out of his mouth all over the dinner table upon learning how his daughter had a boyfriend, visions of an illegitimate grandchild making him heave with his overactive imagination. Joyce had practically driven Buffy crazy trying to make up for almost killing her own child at City Hall, so much so the blonde Chosen One had almost run away from home again.

The Slayer's 18th birthday had also come and gone, and with it the Council's sick and twisted test known as the Cruciamentum. Buffy had passed; Giles hadn't. So Quentin Travers had summarily informed Rupert that he was fired and not to try to countermand the authority of the new Watcher that would arrive soon, or else he would be 'dealt with'.

Unfortunately Wesley wasn't able to set off for California straightaway, with Council politics and Pryce's own desires both playing a part in that. Accordingly, he had missed out on the potential apocalypse that the demon cult known as the Sisterhood of Jhe had tried to engineer about a week previously. Xander had missed out on it too; since Jack O'Toole was currently languishing in a state correctional facility because of the so-called 'chemical leak', Harris had never encountered any zombies that night either.

Michael Czajak knew nothing about all this though. He was in Rack's private chambers; having visited the man again, once he'd finally scrounged together the first instalment of the cash required for their negotiated deal to begin.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Rack asked. "Because I'm telling you right now, it's gonna take a while. Weeks, maybe even months. And it'll hurt. A lot."

"I'm sure," Michael said defiantly. His nervous eyes gave him away though. "So let's get on with it."

Rack shrugged. "As you wish." He then stepped forward, invading Michael's personal space.

"Can I do anything to help?" the male teenager asked uneasily.

"No. Relax, kid. Now, first thing's first; I just gotta take a little tour." Rack's smile was suddenly very repulsive.

The mage quickly thrust his multi-colored glowing hand into his client's abdomen, and Michael screamed as if his soul was being torn apart.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

Buffy was describing the sword she'd seen in last night's fight against some atypical vamps that she and Faith had encountered. "It was kind of a short one, but it had jewels and engravings and stuff on it. Not your average pigsticker, anyway."

"Hmmm," Giles frowned. ( _Sounds familiar, but I'm not sure where from._ )

"Giles. Is that a good 'hmm' or a bad 'hmm'?" Miss Summers asked somewhat impatiently.

"I'm not sure. But there are some areas of investigation I'd like to pursue-"

"Really? And what might they be?"

Both Slayer and ex-Watcher turned around towards the library doorway, where Wesley was standing there with a briefcase. "Who are you?" Giles asked.

"My name's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," the British man said, walking into the room and placing his briefcase on the table before opening it and withdrawing some papers. He handed them over to Giles. "The Council sent me here, Mr. Giles. I'm your replacement."

Rupert looked at the written sheets, and then back at the new Watcher on campus. He said slowly after taking off his glasses, "You know, you don't exactly look like the type I was expecting to arrive here to take over..."

Indeed he didn't, for instead of the man who'd been clean-shaven and wearing a perfectly fitting suit seven months ago, Wesley now sported a day's worth of beard and he was wearing only a chambray shirt and trousers with scuffed shoes. The glasses were gone as well, long since replaced by contact lenses. And there was a slight scar on Wesley's neck, a souvenir from a nasty battle with the enemy.

"I take it you'll be wanting to check my credentials," Wyndam-Pryce said curtly. "And if I want the opinions of a man who managed to get himself fired from the job in disgrace, I'll ask for them."

Giles stared at Wes in annoyance, before heading off to his office to do what protocol demanded. Just then Faith arrived. "Hey. Who's this?"

"New Watcher." Buffy and Faith subsequently checked out the new arrival, both as women and as Slayers. "You think he's evil?" the blonde asked the brunette.

"God, I hope so." Faith had taken an instant liking to Wesley's somewhat scruffy appearance. ( _If I'd have known they came this young and cute, hell. I'd have asked for my own Watcher ages ago!_ )

"Faith, I'm serious! We all thought the last one was kosher, remember, but she turned out to be a total bad guy in disguise," Buffy insisted.

"If you're talking about Gwendolyn Post, I've heard about what happened with her. And in my opinion, you did the world a favour by getting rid of that woman." Wesley stared at his new charges.

Faith's grin widened despite the bad memories, and she started to sashay over to Wesley. "So what's your name?"

"You can call me Wesley." The Watcher's eyes narrowed a little.

"Okay, Wes," Faith purred. "That's Buffy, and I'm Faith. Anything else you wanna know?"

"Yes. If you're a Slayer, then why are you dressed like a streetwalker?"

That question wiped the grin off of Faith's face. "What?"

Wesley withdrew a knife from his back pocket. "Just so I haven't made a mistake." He threw the knife at Faith's head, and the girl only just caught the blade between her palms before it hit her right between the eyes.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! You threw a fuckin' knife at my head!" Miss Lehane screamed, before Buffy caught her mid-charge.

"Hey, hey, calm down! They all do that sort of stuff, it's no big deal. I mean, my first Watcher Merrick? He did the exact same thing to me when we first met. It's nothing personal," the more senior Slayer said, but still sent a glare in Wesley's direction.

Buffy let her go after Faith stopped struggling. "Yeah, but that crack about my wardrobe sure as hell was!"

"Well then, be my guest and do something about it," Wesley said with a slight smirk as he opened up his briefcase again.

That was too much for the Boston-born Slayer to take. With a grunt she launched herself at Wesley again, but the second she got within striking distance, Wes jabbed her with a hand taser that he had withdrawn from the briefcase.

The prongs of the stun gun zapped Faith pretty good, blasting a lot of voltage into her body with a 'scrkkkkkk' sound. The brunette girl subsequently fell twitching to the floor.

Buffy's eyes went wide as she screamed Faith's name, but Wesley's harsh voice barked out, "Stay where you are! She'll not suffer any lasting effects, other than some damage to her pride."

Wesley sounded like someone used to forcefully giving orders and having them obeyed, and despite herself, the California girl did so. The Englishman then strode over to the fallen Slayer, and held out his hand. A still-dazed Faith grabbed it and allowed him to haul her up. Then Miss Lehane shook her head, clearing it as her expression changed to one of murderous fury. "Why, you-"

"Lesson the first; never lose your temper. There will always be someone who'll take advantage of you when that happens. This time, it was me. The next time, it might be someone who's actually out to kill you," Wesley said coldly, staring Faith right in the eye.

The East Coast native quickly lost a lot of her belligerence. Sensei Kanno and her first Watcher, Professor Dormer, had told her something similar back in the old days. However her martial arts teacher had been like a favorite uncle and Diana had been like a mother to her, whereas this jerk – no matter how studly he appeared – didn't merit that sort of free pass.

"You ever do that to me again, and I'll use your intestines as a belt afterwards," Faith finally growled.

Oddly, Wesley just smiled at hearing that even as Buffy grimaced at the visual. He had heard worse threats over the last six months or so, from that assassin and from things that weren't even human. So unfazed, he just stared at Miss Lehane and nodded once.

"I'm glad we understand each other. Now then, care to point me in the direction of the local bar and its resident snitch?" the Watcher asked. "I could do with a shot of whiskey. Not to mention that I'd like to get to know about the major players around here as soon as possible."

"What?" Buffy demanded. She'd not been expecting that Wes would want to get up to that sort of thing, at least not less than thirty seconds after arriving in town.

The other Slayer ignored her. ( _Windy-price tag may be a total asshole, but at least he ain't stupid. And if we're gonna be working together in this town, may as well break him in sooner rather than later, _) Faith reflected.

"Yeah, place you want is Willy's bar, it's over in the demon-friendly part of town." Faith debated with herself for a few moments and then added grudgingly, "I could take you there, on account of I ain't a student here and B can't just leave school whenever she wants."

"Faith!" the senior Slayer hissed. "We don't even know for sure yet if this guy is the real deal!" She whirled around to stare at Rupert's private office, surprised that he hadn't heard all the noise lately. "What the hell is taking Giles so long, anyway?"

Faith rotated her neck and shoulders, finally banishing all the effects of the electric shock. "Ah, screw it. G's probably talkin' about the recipe for tea or scones or whatever to some asswipe that he knows over there. I'm outta here; Wes, you comin' or what?"

"After you." Wesley gestured. "Miss Summers, we'll talk later after I get back. I have quite a number of things I want to discuss with you."

Buffy could only blink and nod. A few minutes later after they left, Giles finally came back into the main part of the library. He looked around as he inquired, "Where's Faith and the new Watcher?"

( _Damn it, I don't want a new Watcher! Giles, you're the only one I can trust out of that whole hoity-toity bunch of jerks,_ ) she thought. "Gone to check out Willy's. So, uh, this guy's definitely on the level then?" Buffy asked with a sinking feeling in her heart.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, I confirmed it before I got off the phone with London." Giles looked at his former charge somewhat quizzically. "Buffy, is there something going on that I don't know about?"

Buffy sighed. "Pull up a chair, have I got a story to tell you about what happened just now."

* * *

**City Hall, Sunnydale**

**February 10****th****, 1999**

While at the school Buffy and her friends were in the middle of a chemistry test, Mr. Trick was having a chat with his employer elsewhere.

"Check these out," the black man said as he laid a pair of swords down on the table.

Mayor Wilkins stopped reading the newspaper, and stared at the weapons. Richard instantly recognized them as the swords belonging to El Eliminati, a group of vampires loyal to a demon enemy of his named Balthazar.

Both of whom Wilkins had personally driven out of Sunnydale over one hundred years ago. Therefore, seeing these blades again now was most certainly not a good omen in the Mayor's book.

"Well, now. I haven't seen anything like these in, uh...a good long while. Where's the owner of these fine implements?" Richard asked.

Trick shrugged, "Most likely theory is that he's been slain. But rumor has it certain people have been seeing his breed around lately. Should we be expecting any trouble?"

The Mayor made a pish-tosh gesture with his hand. "Unlikely. But let's keep an eye out, shall we? After all, we've got the Dedication coming up tomorrow night. And I certainly can't have anything interfering with that."

"Why not?"

Wilkins settled his gaze upon his minion. "The Dedication is the final step before my Ascension, Mr. Trick. Once it's done I will become completely invulnerable to harm. And after the Hundred Days, I'll be on a higher plane with no further concern about the little things." The Mayor paused and then said, "Hmmm...just to be safe, I want you to find out everything you can about these vampires and discreetly feed that information to the Slayers. With any luck, they'll kill each other-"

Suddenly, he heard shouts and the sounds of battle outside his office. Which was definitely unexpected, not to mention a matter of concern, because Wilkins hadn't authorized such things around here today.

"Well, gosh, this isn't right. What's going on out there?" Richard asked in annoyance, as he headed for the door. He had no idea that El Eliminati were attacking City Hall in broad daylight, until Vincent – the head of the 15th century cult, a minion who really looked the part – stood at the doorway, sword drawn and blocking the exit.

Trick looked at the new arrival critically. "Brother, you obviously have no idea what the words 'fashion sense' mean."

Vincent said nothing to his fellow undead as an earthquake started. The Mayor knew something was wrong; this was not a normal southern California quake. He had lived in the area long enough to tell. "Mr. Trick..."

The ground's trembling increased, until without warning the office floor exploded upwards with a geyser of wooden floorboards and solid earth. The demon Balthazar then flowed smoothly out of the hole as the rain of wood and soil subsided, turning to face his old enemy.

"Hello, Richard."

Wilkins stepped back. "Balthazar. How the heck did you get in here?" he demanded, his usual chipper tone now something a lot darker.

"You were careless, Richard. You left my amulet out in the open, buried with Mr. Gleaves. My acolytes retrieved it last night and finally restored my strength to what it was before you met me," Balthazar gloated.

"Really? Well then, that's just swell for you. But look, I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement here. I mean gosh, I'm willing to simply let bygones be bygones..." the politician started to say, his usual manner reasserting itself. Wilkins didn't notice Trick edging towards the hole, and neither did Balthazar, as a vampire outside who was loyal to the Mayor suddenly distracted Vincent.

"I am not interested in making deals with you, Richard. And you're already starting to bore me. Come here!" Balthazar held up his arms, and the air between him and the Mayor was visibly disturbed. Fighting against it and suddenly cursing like a sailor, Wilkins was nonetheless inevitably floated to Balthazar's grasp.

"This is for everything you did to me, and all the suffering I endured for a hundred years," the no-longer-obese Balthazar hissed. The demon slug's right hand shot out and twisted Wilkins' neck to an unnatural angle, snuffing out the Mayor's life – and all his future plans – with a horrible 'crack' noise.

"At last!" Balthazar exulted in his moment of victory as Trick took the opportunity to jump down the hole and make good his escape, just in the nick of time.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But as Balthazar threw away the corpse and headed back down into the sewers of Sunnydale, he decided that there was a lot to say for having it served hot as well.

* * *

**Sunnydale town limits, California**

**Later that night**

After nearly three months absence, the '59 DeSoto belonging to William the Bloody passed the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign and finally arrived back in town.

Spike had been a busy vampire ever since he had departed the Hellmouth last year, the foul taste of Willow Rosenberg still fresh in his mouth. He had searched high and low for Drusilla, but found no trace of her anywhere. Finally there had come the news he'd been secretly dreading; that his priceless, beautiful sire was now dust.

He didn't know for sure yet who had done it or where it had happened, but the rage in the vampire upon learning the news had nonetheless been something unique to behold.

Since to get Dru back, Spike had been willing to butcher the entire world, if that was what it took to get her to forgive him. But now, that was impossible. And if there was no outlet for his frustration other than extreme violence against said world, then by Satan's balls that was exactly what Spike was going to do.

In particular, whoever had killed Drusilla was going to suffer for it for as long and painfully as possible.

But there were other things to be done first. The Master vampire knew that he had to make his arse as invulnerable as possible before he killed Betty, the big poof and that redheaded witch, just for starters and not necessarily in that order. Minions, while they had their uses, weren't going to be enough for this sort of fight. Spike wanted the odds stacked firmly in his favor right from the start.

"I know you're around here somewhere," Spike muttered to himself, having done all of the research needed to ascertain the location of the object he desired. "And I'm gonna find you."

The car bumped over something on the road for a moment, briefly shaking and vibrating. But the vehicle's driver never even seemed to notice.

"And when I do...this whole damn planet is gonna wish they'd never heard of William the Bloody," Spike finished up.

The vampire glanced down at the passenger seat, upon which lay the ancient scroll he had found. Well, yanked away from the previous owner's dying flesh.

The scroll containing clues to the whereabouts of the vampire Holy Grail.

The Gem of Amara.

TBC...


	5. Of Spells And Relationships

See Part One for disclaimer and details. Thanks as always to my faithful reviewers. Please keep it up, it's the inspiration for me to keep going at this. Seriously.

* * *

**Part Five: Of Spells And Relationships**

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**March 22****nd****, 1999**

Willow, Buffy and Faith were sitting on a grassy area outside the main building, relaxing during a warm spring morning before classes began. Miss Rosenberg had taken the opportunity to practice her magic skills, which included levitating a pencil. But as a fly distracted the witch, her emotional control slipped and the pencil darted off and buried itself in a nearby tree.

"Ooops! Sorry," Willow said apologetically. She'd been taking magic lessons from Tara after Xander had introduced them, but it was still pretty slow going.

"That's okay, Will," Buffy said, a little distracted. "So Faith, how'd patrol go last night?" she wanted to know.

"Pretty eventful, actually. X saved my life, even killed a few vamps himself," Faith said, recalling how Mr. Trick and his posse had been about to feast on her blood near the docks the previous evening.

Relieved of his obligations to the late Mayor, and after a lengthy period of celebration, the African-American vampire had decided to pick up where he'd left off with Slayerfest '98 and slay the killer of his sire. But what no one had expected was for Harris to come charging in and give her the chance to survive. And not only do that, but also finally stake Trick like she'd done with Kakistos all those months ago.

Miss Lehane had attempted to properly 'thank' Xander for his efforts later on that same night, but he had firmly yet politely refused her offer. Given how much the average male teenager craved sex with no strings attached, Faith had quickly decided that most likely the fashion princess had finally decided to start getting horizontal with her boyfriend again.

( _Well, whatever. No skin off my nose; X can just be 'the one who got away'._ ) Faith had shrugged off the refusal like water off a duck's back, and then quickly found a willing replacement at the Bronze.

"I worry about him," Buffy mused. "Ever since that whole Sisterhood of Jehovah thing, Xander's gotten more and more distant and closed off. And now he's started taking stupid risks again?"

"I guess Xander just doesn't like being sidelined, Buff. And I don't think there's much we can do about that." Willow wisely decided to change the subject. "So, uh, you heard anything more about that big demon worm Giles mentioned recently?"

"Only that Angel thinks he's bad news, and he was at a warehouse on Deveraux before he cleared out of there," Buffy replied. "What's his name again? Beltazor? Brontosaur?"

"Balthazar," Willow automatically corrected the blonde's butchering of their potential opponent's name.

"Yeah, that's right. It's just that Wes initially thought he was dead, y'know. And boy; was I glad for once I could tell that guy to his face just how wrong he was!" Faith looked positively gleeful.

Buffy scowled, she didn't like her new Watcher much either. Among other reasons he wasn't on board with her relationship to Angel, and had even gone so far as to warn that if she ever gave her boyfriend a happy again she'd end up in a specially-designed Slayer prison. And Angelus would get terminated with extreme prejudice, whether anyone tried to do the soul curse again or not.

"Wesley totally has a stick up his ass, if you ask my opinion," Buffy declared forcefully. "He really needs to find a girlfriend or something."

"You volunteering, or are you asking me to do it? 'Cause given the way Red acts around her wolf-y boy toy, he'll never believe she's serious. And that's assuming Wes is actually willing to be part of a threesome with those two," the younger Slayer wisecracked.

"Faith!!" both Buffy and Willow exclaimed at the same time, the redhead's cheeks scarlet with embarrassment.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale**

**Later that morning**

"Are you sure about this?" Giles asked Wesley in consternation.

"Yes," Wes never looked up from the parchment he was studying. "The Belial siphon spell was definitely cast here in Sunnydale, at some point in the future. All the signs definitely point to it; but unfortunately I still don't know the when, why and who."

Rupert had almost forgotten about that particular news from England; after all, it had been eight months ago and he'd been focused on finding Buffy to the exclusion of almost everything else back then. But now, with no major crisis to worry about, he was able to give the matter his full attention.

"Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I thought that particular spell was so old there are only a handful of individuals who know how to perform it," he noted. "And none of them are currently here on the Hellmouth."

"That's true enough. But there are also a number of discovery spells that can be used to determine the required information. So it wouldn't surprise me if many people within the Council's ranks know how to perform that spell by now," Wyndam-Pryce replied.

Giles suppressed a feeling of chagrin. Given human nature, Wesley was very probably right. The problem though was that the younger man was too damned smart for his own good, which rubbed other people the wrong way. And his personality clashed too strongly with Buffy's, especially on the subject of Angel.

Rupert knew that Wesley thought he'd indulged the blonde Slayer's whims and personal desires far too much. That it had been his job to train the girl and keep her alive for as long as possible, not to become her friend and father figure.

Not to mention that he should have summoned a Council wet-works team to exterminate Angelus the moment he'd learned the vampire had lost his soul, and not depended on a traumatized 17-year-old child to do it for him.

While Giles didn't agree with the first sentiment, he found it impossible to deny the second one didn't have some merit to it. A lot of people who were dead now might have been alive if he hadn't allowed Buffy the faint hope that somehow, one day, her Angel might be restored to her. His beloved Jenny, for one.

Willow came into the library, leaving her books on the counter. "Hey, Giles. What's up?"

"Oh, uh, just discussing the Belial siphon spell with Wesley," the librarian said, still lost in his own thoughts.

"WHAT?" Willow shrieked. She had read an obscure description of that spell in one of her books and thought it was only legend. Thus, Miss Rosenberg was now completely freaked out at hearing this rather alarming news.

"Didn't I tell you and the others about that? I was sure I did," Giles said in honest surprise.

"No, you didn't! Giles!" Willow shouted. "Are you telling me that history's been changed somehow?"

"Yes. The spell's impact began last July according to the seers, as a matter of fact," Wesley looked up at her. "Before I came here, I spent six months of my life investigating it. But all I ever managed to learn was that the spell was performed at a site where a Hellmouth was located. I've checked out the Berlin and Cleveland Hellmouths personally, and I'm now sure it's the Sunnydale Hellmouth where the spell was cast at some point in the future."

"How long?" Willow squeaked. The whole thing was mind-boggling to her, the concept that she could have been living an entirely different life right now. Or maybe even not be alive at all. "I mean, when-"

"I don't know," Wes interrupted. "No one does. Or if they do, it hasn't become public knowledge yet. In any case, Miss Rosenberg, please try not to be unduly alarmed by all this. What's done is done, and hopefully the circumstances where the Belial siphon spell was cast have been removed from consideration, here and now."

"And if they haven't?" the female teen demanded.

Wesley shrugged. "Then at some point, the End of Days or whatever was responsible shall come again, and drastic measures will be required once more."

Willow paled at hearing that. Without another word, she turned around, grabbed her books and left.

"Did you have to mention that last bit to her?" Giles demanded. "The girl's not even 18 years old yet..."

Wesley hit him with a pointed stare, and Giles didn't need to hear the man say it to know the Watcher thought his predecessor was pointlessly coddling their teenage acquaintances again.

( _Bloody berk. Even if he might have a point, I suppose._ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High Boys' Locker Room, Sunnydale**

**The same time**

Xander slammed his locker door shut after gym class, and started changing into his regular clothes. He had much to think about.

The young man knew that in a few more months, high school would be over for another year. It looked like he would be able to graduate with the class of '99. His grades weren't spectacular, but still good enough to earn his diploma, assuming all went well with the upcoming final exams. But still, it was the nagging question of what to do with his life afterwards that concerned the youth.

Xander knew he might not even have a home with his parents once high school was over. He hadn't told anybody just how far down into the bottle his mom and dad were sliding, but if current trends were any indication they would soon be wanting rent money to help feed their alcohol addiction.

And the male teenager knew he was damned if he'd ever do that.

Lately, Xander had often contemplated leaving Sunnydale after the summer arrived. He'd been saving up money for a celebratory road trip, wanting to see the world that existed beyond the Hellmouth. What if he simply never came back? Who would even miss him after a while?

( _Cordelia._ )

Xander sighed, things with regard to his girlfriend were somewhat complicated. They cared about one another a great deal, yes. But Harris knew that the class barrier between Cordelia and himself would be a tricky thing post-high school. She would no doubt be heading for some hugely expensive college and get inducted into some exclusive sorority next fall. What was he going to do, follow her there and become the townie boyfriend? In that scenario Xander knew he'd feel even more out of place than Cordelia did trying to be a member of the Scooby gang.

Xander suddenly remembered a fight he'd had with Harmony not long ago. She had accused him of being a loser and that he would never amount to much in life, which was hardly anything out of the ordinary. But he had practically snapped and angrily replied, "You can think that if you want, airhead. But with the way you gush over how many different colours of Blush there are, I figure you'll simply skate through college on Daddy's money just long enough to get married to a rich jock. One who'll get pretty damn tired of you after you hit thirty-five. Plus because your looks are the only thing you've really got going for you, you'll use your cheating husband's money to get breast surgery, and end up a trophy wife who has to fake an illness every so often just to get noticed anymore!"

Was that what would happen to Cordelia, if all they had together was a high school fling and went their separate ways after graduation? Xander didn't know. And to be honest, he didn't really want to find out either. ( _Ah, hell. Looks like I'm gonna have to sit down with Cordy and try to figure out just what our lives are gonna be like in a few months time. There's nothing else for it. _)

At that moment as he finished getting dressed, Xander spotted Michael racing to worship the porcelain god. He wandered over to outside the stall and asked, "Hey, man, you okay?"

The toilet was flushed and the warlock came out, holding his stomach and looking as though he might be sick again. "I'll be alright," Michael grunted.

One of the side effects from Rack augmenting his powers over the last couple of months was his body playing catch-up, trying to adjust. He had started looking up ancient, obscure, yet dark and powerful magicks to help him deal. But in Michael's opinion, the pain was well worth it. Despite his having to cough up a lot of dead presidents as well.

"You sure? I could take you to the school nurse if you want-" Xander offered.

"I said I'm fine!" Michael snapped.

"Okay, okay, sorry for trying to help," Harris muttered in an annoyed tone as he turned around and started to walk off.

The other boy instantly felt bad about his earlier reaction. Xander had never tried to hurt him, unlike a lot of other people in this town, and he hadn't deserved receiving that just for trying to be a Good Samaritan. Deciding to make it up to the guy, Michael used his new powers to hit Xander with a little bit of magic.

Nothing malevolent or harmful, it could best be described as a 'be all you can be' spell. Something temporary to enhance whatever Xander had to begin with, and which didn't violate the rede of personal gain.

It was intended as a gift.

But this was Xander Harris and the Hellmouth Michael was dealing with here. And gifts that weren't exactly store returnable could often have unexpected consequences.

* * *

**The Bronze, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

"Buffy, I'm telling you, this is serious!" Willow insisted to her best friend. "The Belial siphon spell is really bad news!"

The Slayer honestly wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. Things were somehow different now because of some mojo last year? "Okay, Will, but just how bad could it really be?"

"End of the world type bad!" Miss Rosenberg yelped.

"Oh...huh?"

Willow exhaled, preparing to try to explain it to the Chosen One in a different way. "Look, Buffy, history is an incredibly fragile thing, y'know? A guy looks one way or coughs, one thing happens. He looks another way or doesn't cough, something else entirely happens. Like, he doesn't meet his future wife, or attract the attention of the guy who would eventually encourage him to become President. That spell, it seriously messed with what would have happened from last July onward! It's like the ultimate non-cough or non-glance here!"

Miss Summers definitely looked concerned now. "So, uh, did anything major happen then? 'Cause I was away in LA at the time, if you recall."

"Not that I know of," Willow frowned. She'd forgotten that that was when Xander had met Tara, unfortunately. "But that doesn't mean anything, really. It could be that some kinda apocalypse was averted when history changed, we just don't know. We can't even guess. And that's what's wigging me out, Buff; we, we might all have been dead right now in the original timeline!"

"You don't know that," Buffy said at once. "Look, Willow, I gotta go with Wesley on this one. For better or worse, this is the non-apocalypse-y world we're living in now. And all the maybes and what-ifs aren't gonna change that. If anything bad happens in the future, we'll deal the same way we always do. Okay?"

Willow reluctantly nodded. Being the type of person she was, she still couldn't help worrying about all this; her superior intellect understood the ramifications in a way that few people could. But what Buffy said definitely made sense, and the red-haired girl knew that if she kept on thinking around in circles this way, she'd eventually end up biting herself in the small of the back. "Okay."

The Chosen One decided to change the subject. "So where's Faith? Don't think I've seen her since this morning, when she made that lousy joke about you, Oz and Wesley."

"Oh, uh, she said she had a date tonight. Apparently she met some guy or other who hangs out at the Fish Tank," Willow replied absently.

"Good for her. And what about Xander?" Buffy asked, still in 'worried mother' mode with regard to him.

"He said something about him and Cordy going out on a date as well, last I heard."

* * *

**Sunnydale High Utility Closet, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

It was Mae West who once said, 'too much of a good thing can be wonderful.' Right now though, even though she admired and looked up to the long-dead movie star, Cordelia Chase wasn't sure she agreed with that particular quote from the woman.

Because she was kissing her boyfriend in their own private broom closet. And things were quickly heating up to the point of no return, if the bulge in Xander's pants was any indicator of how he was feeling.

Even though neither of them knew it, Michael's 'be all you can be' spell had amplified the young man's libido and last night Xander had arrived at the Chase manor in a bit of a frisky mood. A short while later Cordy had been very glad her parents were away in Washington, meeting with the IRS for some reason, and that she had been able to bribe Lupe the maid into taking the night off and leaving the house.

The reason being Cordelia had constantly screamed in pleasure for hours during the previous evening, thanks to Xander becoming "a Viking in the sack". Miss Chase had been ready to take their relationship back to its prior level ever since her 18th birthday and, thanks to Michael's spell, their marathon lovemaking session had bound them to one another mind, body and soul. Eventually, she'd fallen asleep within her boyfriend's arms in a state of numb bliss.

Of course, there were still the appearances to consider. She'd cleaned up the mess from the used condoms and shoved Xander out the window after sunrise. Cordelia certainly didn't want to risk Lupe blabbing to her parents that her boyfriend had spent the night, if the hired help saw Harris exiting her bedroom door. But the two teenagers had met up again at school today, and unbelievable as it sounded, Little Xander was rarin' to go all over again.

In the cheerleader's opinion, it was lucky for the big goofball that she had completely and utterly fallen in love with him. Otherwise, Xander and his hand would have been very busy together for quite a while.

"We've never done it in a broom closet," Harris whispered into the girl's ear, his hands exploring many private parts of Cordelia's anatomy. "Cordy, honey, you in the mood for a quickie?"

Still somewhat tired from last night's bedroom gymnastics Miss Chase would have slapped him, if only Xander hadn't started gently nibbling on her ear and kissing the nape of her neck. The brunette girl felt all her objections quickly evaporating as her boyfriend's hands continued to work their spell-enhanced magic, Harris somehow getting under her yellow and maroon cheerleader outfit while continually kissing the hell out of her. ( _Oh, God, how did he learn how to do tha- OHHH!_ )

"Thought I might find you two in here. So is this a private party, or can anybody else join in?"

The sound of Faith's amused voice elicited a surprised yelp from both Xander and Cordelia, who let go and hurriedly started adjusting their clothes. "Shut the door! And what are you doing here anyway?" the Chase girl demanded.

Miss Lehane never lost her smirk for a moment as she switched on the light after shutting the closet door. "Like I said, looking for you two. Well, Xander here actually, but since I knew I'd find you together..."

"Why were you looking for me?" Xander asked curiously, as he finally zipped up his pants and winced at their tightness. Cordelia just scowled at the assumptions Faith was making, even if they were perfectly valid ones.

"Well, here's the thing, stud-"

"Don't call him that!" Cordelia interrupted irately. "He's not your 'stud' or your 'boy toy' or whatever other stupid nickname you want to use. Xander has a name, so use it!"

The brunette Slayer knew a territorial girlfriend when she saw one, even though Xander just stared at Queen C curiously, and there really wasn't any reason not to humour the cheerleader, so she simply shrugged. "Whatever. Look, B's pretty much been on the warpath this morning. That guy Balthazar sent his boys to the Bronze last night, and things got kinda ugly. I ain't never seen Fang and his honey this worked up before."

"Great," Xander groaned as they all stepped out of the closet. "So Deadboy's here too?"

"In the library along with the rest of the gang."

"Are you and him EVER gonna get along?" Cordelia asked her boyfriend as the trio walked off.

"Sure. I'd say roughly around the twelfth of never," Xander replied with a scowl. He simply couldn't help it, the male teenager just didn't like or trust vampires. Especially after what had happened with Spike and Willow last year.

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

While elsewhere the white hats were taking the war directly if unsuccessfully to Balthazar and El Eliminati, Amy Madison was feeling seriously spaced as she and Michael Czajak walked out of Rack's lair together. "Whoo..."

"You okay?" Michael asked with some concern.

"Sure. I'm great!" Amy flashed him a somewhat manic grin as they walked towards her car.

The young woman had quickly recovered from briefly being a rat so long ago, and plunged herself right back into the world of magic and witchcraft. So when Michael had suggested to the girl that she accompany him to a very special place, the suggestiveness in the warlock's tone had convinced the brunette female to come along.

Amy's initial impressions of Rack's abode hadn't been favourable. But after she'd met Michael's supplier Miss Madison was as good as hooked, too. Rack had done incredible things to her after taking his standard 'tour' of the facilities. Amy now felt like her abilities had been increased at least ten-fold whilst under the magic dealer's influence, and there was no burnout factor to speak of.

Too bad for the teenage witch that, just like her male friend, she had now started down a path that led to nothing good.

TBC...


	6. The Sound Of One Hand Clapping

See Part One for disclaimer and details. A big thank you as always to everyone who has reviewed. Please keep it up, as not only am I a feedback junkie (praise or flames), there aren't going to be too many more chapters in the story after this one.

* * *

**Part Six: The Sound Of One Hand Clapping **

**Osbourne residence, California**

**March 25****th****, 1999**

Willow and Oz were in bed together due to a unique set of circumstances arising in this brave new world, circumstances which involved the jock known as Percy West getting exactly what he deserved. Even Principal Snyder had been unable to save him, not after Percy had threatened Willow if she didn't do what she was told in a conversation overheard by Wesley.

In his role as a guidance counselor, Wyndam-Pryce had told Snyder in the presence of faculty witnesses what he'd learned, and that had pretty much been all she wrote for the basketball player.

The witch and the werewolf were at Daniel's house, as they couldn't have sex at Willow's place. At least, not without Ira trying to kill Oz with a shovel if he ever discovered what the guy was doing with his daughter nowadays. Oddly enough, despite her friendship with Tara Willow hadn't fallen in love with her this time around. Given how the thought of cheating on Oz AGAIN was anathema, and the two femmes didn't see each other all that often, anyway.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Oz murmured as he gazed at Willow's distracted face.

"Nothing, I..." The young woman caught Oz's look and sighed. ( _Darn. Guess I can't fool him about anything anymore._ ) "It's Xander."

Oz nodded, unsurprised. "What he said two nights ago, it really got to you."

There was no point trying to deny the obvious. "I just never thought...Xander actually loves Cordy now? So much that he's willing to leave Sunnydale in order not to lose her, once she goes off to college? I never thought he'd do that."

"Guessing what that really means is, you never thought he'd be willing to leave YOU in order not to lose his girlfriend," Oz said softly with great insight.

Somewhat reluctantly, Willow nodded. "Xander and me, we've known each other for almost as long as I can remember. We always shared everything, Oz, and growing up, it was me, Xander and Jesse against Cordelia and all her groupies. I was the president of the 'We Hate Cordelia' club, Jesse was the secretary and Xander was the treasurer. But now Jesse's dead, and Xander...he's, he's defected to the enemy team!"

"People change as they grow up," Oz said, so amused that he almost made an expression. "And high school's gonna be over in a few months. Thinking that could have a played a role in his recent decision."

Willow looked unhappier than ever upon hearing this. "I guess. Well, I don't suppose you could be a good boyfriend, and, like, cheer me up somehow?"

Oz dived under the covers, and Willow soon gasped in unbridled pleasure.

There was a big difference between true love and being under a love spell; and at that moment, if anyone had asked her about the undead guy who had been her first, most likely Miss Rosenberg would have dazedly replied, "Spike who?"

* * *

**Weatherly Park, Sunnydale**

**April 13****th****, 1999**

The weeks passed and the days grew longer as the hot California summer slowly approached. The Sunnydale High students' lives were a mix of college applications, sports, homework and, on occasion, near-death hijinks as well. In the background Tara Maclay noticed her high school friends fret and wonder both about life after graduation, and just what sort of apocalypse they could expect Sunnyhell to serve up before the end of the school year.

After all, that there would be an apocalypse was as certain as the spring and fall equinoxes.

Buffy was on patrol with Faith, Angel and Wesley tonight. A short distance behind the Slayers, the British man was telling the Irish vampire that Drusilla had been terminated under his orders last year, but both females were too busy with their own conversation to hear Wes say it.

"B, you've got that look on your face again," Faith said warningly. Her Slayersense was on the lookout for any signs of trouble in the background.

"What? What look? I don't have a look, I'm look-free. Aren't I?" Buffy asked, her own Slayersense twitching.

"Can't fool me, y'know. You're thinking about the stud again, ain'tcha?"

Buffy released a small sound that was a combination of annoyance, frustration and despair. "It's just, I-I-I don't understand. How the hell did things ever end up like this? How did it get to the point where Xander would choose Cordelia over Willow and me?"

( _Oh, yeah, this should be good. And what the heck were you expecting after that 'I just don't want you to get hurt' speech?_ ) Faith half-grinned to herself at her mystical sibling's concern.

"He ain't a puppy, B. And this isn't some kinda lameass competition thing you've got going against that girl, is it? I mean 'cause to the casual observer, it looks like you're thinkin' that she's stolen someone that belongs to you," Faith smiled wickedly.

Buffy shook her head, misunderstanding the subtext. "I don't feel that way about Xander, you know how Angel's the only one for me. But why can't he see how Cordelia is all wrong for him? Like, it's never gonna work out between those two. You mark my words about that, it's only a matter of time before they finally have one fight too many. Xander should be with...well, I dunno, someone better."

"Like who?" Faith's grin got even wider. "Me?"

Buffy glanced at the other Chosen One. "Well, he always did have a thing for Slayers. And I remember how Xander started drooling over you the first night we all met at the Bronze, especially with your naked alligator story. Just my opinion, but you'd have been perfect for one another."

Faith lost the smirk, becoming serious as they padded along. "Yeah, well, I've thought about it myself, ever since he said no to my little offer. But stealing him away from the cheerleader? I'd say it's too late for anything between us now except a bit of fun teasing him."

"It just strikes me as kinda funny, is all. You've been here in town for what, seven or eight months now? And none of the guys you've met in all that time were worth more than, y'know, a bit of fun?" Buffy asked.

Faith shrugged. "We're the Chosen Two, girl friend. Built-in expiry date, remember? We'll be damn lucky to make it anywhere near twenty-five. I'm not seein' any fat grandchildren in either of our futures, so I say we gotta get our fun while the ride's still going."

"Yeah, but-"

"In the name of Lord Balthazar, DIE!" one of El Eliminati screamed, the leather-clad and uniformed vampire rushing out of the shadows with his sword held high and a squad of his brethren right behind him.

Buffy grimaced as the battle began and she staked her first Eliminatus of the evening. These guys had been like weeds lately, expanding their numbers in the absence of a Master vampire to maintain the traditional sort of control over the fledglings and minions. Spike was around, granted, but the Scooby gang didn't know that. He was keeping well out of sight with his underground search for the Gem, so much so that the undead Englishman wasn't even doing his own hunting. William the Bloody was making do with bottled blood deliveries to maintain operational secrecy.

Thus, Balthazar remained the focus of Team Slayer. As far as Buffy was concerned, the commandant of El Eliminati definitely needed a major lesson in what it meant to annoy the Chosen One; and as soon as they could find his new lair, Miss Summers looked forward to teaching him personally.

* * *

**Sunnydale High School Corridor, Sunnydale**

**The next day**

"You shoulda seen it, Will," Buffy said excitedly. "It was awesome! So we're there in the park, and Faith has three of them coming at her at once. She totally kicks their asses, and Angel stakes one of the bad guys. Then Wesley comes in with this huge fighting axe and decapitates one of 'em, whoosh! Dust everywhere. Then this couple of scabby-looking demons show up behind him. Angel, Faith and I finish off the bloodsuckers, while Wes slices one of the mouth-less demons in half! Then I took care of the other one." Miss Summers scratched her wrist. "Itches a bit where I got splashed, though."

"Are you okay?" Willow asked as they stopped at her locker.

"Yeah. No big, just another problem for the good people at Lubriderm." Buffy looked down the corridor. "Uh-oh, here comes trouble..."

"Harmony, for God's sake. There's less than six weeks left till Graduation and the end of high school, and I'm sick and tired of maintaining appearances with the popular crowd. Come on, what does it all really matter now?" Cordy asked hopelessly as she, Xander and Harmony arrived within hearing distance of the Slayer and the witch.

The busty blonde's eyes were instantly huge. "Your popularity will spiral right back down the gurgler again. Cordelia, how can you even say something like that?"

"Because it's true?" Xander replied, his arm curling protectively around his girlfriend. "So just deal with the situation, Harmony. Or else."

( _Was that a threat, you stupid pea brain?_ ) the natural blonde thought to herself. But before she could say anything, the girl was treated to the sickening sight of the social reject kissing her best friend. Even though it had been over a year, Harmony still couldn't stomach watching this. ( _Ack! No!!!_ )

"Hey, Xander," the basketball player named Hogan Martin said from behind Harmony.

"Hogan. Great play the other night," Xander said politely after breaking the kiss.

"Thanks. So you're gonna be watching tonight's game, right?" Hogan asked.

"Wouldn't miss it, championship and all. Besides, I wanna be there to support our head cheerleader," Harris sent a brief grin to said brunette, who gave him a dazzling megawatt smile and light shove as well.

"There's a victory party planned for afterwards if we win. You're both gonna be there?"

"Of course!" Cordelia said at once. "Like that was ever a question!"

"What she said," Xander added.

"Cool. I'll tell the management committee," Hogan nodded. He quickly walked off after saying goodbye.

"Now that's a guy who's got some hops!" Xander commented.

"Jealous?" Harmony asked nastily.

"Swimming is more Xander's thing, actually," Cordelia answered in the same vein. "I thought you knew that. What with the way you used to drool over that picture of the junior year swim team that's stuck in your gym locker."

Harmony stalked off, her cheeks burning. Not far away, Willow and Buffy looked at one another in despair, having overheard the entire conversation and figuring that Xander Harris was now truly forever lost to the dark side of the Force.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Lounge, Sunnydale**

**April 15****th****, 1999**

"Can you believe it? Right at the buzzer! Three points for the win," Willow said excitedly as Oz, Tara and Faith followed the redhead into the student common area.

"It was intense. And I'm not even into basketball," Tara nodded. She had come along to the game by invitation and today she was here to see if she could borrow some books from Giles and Wesley, including their copy of "Hume's Paranormal Encyclopaedia". Miss Maclay also kept her eyes averted from Willow; Tara didn't want her to guess how she had fallen in love with Miss Rosenberg.

Some things were so inevitable that not even the Belial siphon spell could alter them.

"Sorry I missed it. Most fun I had last night was watchin' B mistake a dog for some kinda four-legged demon," the Slayer chortled.

"Man, I've never seen anyone jump like Hogan Martin. They should call him – the jumper," Willow suggested.

"That's already an article of women's clothing, Will," Oz told his girlfriend gently.

"Hey guys," Buffy joined the group. The others all gave greetings to her as well, and Willow noticed the blonde furiously scratching her hand. Miss Summers noticed her noticing and said, "Yeah, I know. I've seen Giles about it, but he's still looking into things."

"Gotta say, that whole aspect of the demon thing sucks," Faith added.

"What?" Tara asked in confusion. She was quickly brought up to speed on how the demon from the other night in the park could infect others with part of its being, and felt very shocked. ( _Oh my God. Is that possible with me too? I just, I really wish I knew what sort of demon I'm eventually going to turn into._ ) "Uh, I have to go. I, I'll see you all later..." The college freshman quickly turned around and left after saying her hasty goodbyes.

Cordelia's exasperated voice could subsequently be heard as she and Harris headed towards the Scooby gang. "Xander, I'm telling you for the last time. People were not staring at you during the party!"

"Well, it sure felt like it last night," Xander replied with a grumbling tone.

"I promise, they were all too busy celebrating the team's victory. I mean, that was an incredible game! I've never cheered so hard in my life! Last night was amazing. I still have all those marks on my back." Off his look, she quickly added, "From the pyramid, you dummy, not afterwards!"

"Hey, you two," Faith called out. The others apart from Oz were all looking too grossed out to say anything.

"Hi, Faith," Xander immediately replied. Cordelia just sent her a glance and a slight nod though. ( _Damn it, Cordy, when are you and Faith ever going to become friends?_ ) Harris thought to himself with a mental sigh.

"Well, maybe you could try the double-date thing? That might help," Buffy replied distractedly. She had gotten over some of her issues with Cordelia after her talk with Faith in the park the other night.

The others all looked at her. "What?" the Summers girl asked, realizing she was the target of their stares.

"What are you talkin' about, B?" Faith asked curiously.

"Well, Xander said..." Buffy trailed off, quickly sensing something amiss. "You know, he was sorta wondering what he could do to make Faith and Cordelia become friends," she said uncertainly.

"No, he didn't say that," Willow said in confusion as Miss Chase sent a 'look' to her significant other.

"Yeah, but I thought it. Man, it's like you read my mind," Xander said curiously.

* * *

**Summers residence, 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

That was, in fact, precisely what had happened. The whole mind-reading power slowly but surely began to increase in scope and ability as Miss Summers heard the thoughts of other people all around her. Unfortunately though, the demonic trait grew and grew until the point came where Buffy was overwhelmed by it and Giles took her home. Later a terrified Joyce could only watch helplessly as her baby girl became completely bed-ridden, all the voices in her head turning into a howling din of noise.

Drowning Buffy in pillows and extra blankets accomplished nothing but to get her arms tired. Fortunately for her sanity Joyce didn't know that Wes and Giles had learned how a man in Ecuador had recently suffered the same fate, said individual now in complete isolation and unable to communicate with anyone to prevent the telepathy from overwhelming and finally killing him.

Finally, after sunset Wesley and Angel arrived at the house together. "What's HE doing here?" Joyce demanded, staring at the one vampire she despised with all her being.

"Angel's here to help. Invite him in please, Mrs. Summers, we don't have much time left," Wesley said firmly as he barged into the house. "Or should I say, your daughter doesn't have much time left."

The Englishman's attitude grated on her nerves just like it had ever since day one, but the concern for Buffy took precedence. "I invite you in," Joyce said stiffly to the ensouled vampire.

Angel entered the house the moment he was able to and rushed upstairs to Buffy's side, his features drawn and haggard. "It's even worse than I thought," he muttered thickly.

The others, who had all followed him close behind, didn't disagree with that sentiment. "How do we fix this?" Joyce demanded.

"The good news is that there is a cure. But it involves obtaining the heart of the demon that infected her, or at least one of the same species, and essentially feeding it to her as a potion," Wesley replied, ignoring the mother's 'yuck' expression. "Unfortunately, however, both demons we encountered that night were killed, and there's no telling where we can find another one in the time Buffy has left before insanity or death sets in."

"So what do you suggest?" Joyce asked weakly.

"A stop-gap measure, for now anyway. Buffy can't hear Angel's thoughts according to my information. Therefore he'll have to take her some place far away, with no human contact until the Council informs me where another of those demons can be found-"

"Out of the question!" Joyce snapped out. "Buffy is not staying anywhere alone with HIM!" she gestured at Angel vindictively.

"Mrs. Summers," Wesley's voice grew hard and cold, attracting her attention. "Either we do this, or your daughter will die within the next day or so. Do you really want me to make the arrangements with the one of the local funeral parlours?"

"You unfeeling bastard, that's my little girl you're talking about!" Joyce screamed at him.

"Then wake up, you fool woman!" Wesley yelled back at her, startling the middle-aged female. "You know the truth about this world now! You know how magic and demons and curses are all real. They're NOT something that'll go away, no matter how hard you care to pretend otherwise. And now your child's life is in deadly danger. We've no time for your prejudices in this matter, and if necessary I'll order Angel to take Buffy and leave. Do you understand? I swore an oath to safeguard my Slayers to the best of my ability, and I'll be damned if I let you get in the way of that!"

Joyce stared at him open-mouthed, and Giles touched her on the shoulder. "I'm afraid he's right," he told his ex-lover sadly. "I'm sorry, Joyce, but there really is no other option. Not right now, anyway."

Joyce began to cry, tears leaking from her eyes. But the blonde woman said through her sniffles, "All right. Take her."

"I know a place in the Sierra Nevada," Angel spoke up. "It's way out in the middle of nowhere; if I hurry, we can be there before sunrise-"

"Tell Mr. Giles where it is. He'll be accompanying you both, at a minimum safe distance of course," Wesley interrupted him after making a command decision.

"What?" the other three chorused.

"As stated, we've no other choice in this matter. But that doesn't mean I trust you alone with Miss Summers any more than her mother does," the Watcher said to Angel with brutal honesty. "Past history is not in your favour, so you'll report to Mr. Giles every twelve hours during this crisis. Failure to do so even once will be taken as a de facto announcement that you've lost your soul again. Under such circumstances, you'll become persona non gratis and eventually be taken care of. Have I made myself clear?"

Angel just stared at the Watcher, then he nodded silently. ( _Joyce was right about you, you cold-hearted sassenach. And don't think I've forgotten about Drusilla either. That duty was mine alone._ )

"My job at the school..." Giles started to say hesitantly, then he shrugged. "...is completely irrelevant, right now."

"Indeed. I'll inform Principal Snyder of your 'family emergency' first thing in the morning, and take over your duties in the library until you get back. Hopefully, the evil hobgoblin can be persuaded not to simply fire you out of hand," Wyndam-Pryce shrugged as well. ( _It shouldn't be too hard for me to act as both the school's librarian and guidance counselor for a while. Or at least I hope so, anyway._ )

"We really should get going," a worried Angel looked at Buffy again. "We're burning moonlight even as we speak."

There was nothing left to say, really. Joyce quickly packed a few things for her child, then Buffy and Angel left in Wesley's car as Giles' Citroen followed them five minutes later. Wesley and Joyce watched him leave, before the Watcher politely said good night and headed back towards his own home on a newly purchased motorcycle.

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**April 16****th****, 1999**

Xander was feeling troubled that lunchtime. Wesley had informed the entire group early in the morning that Buffy had left with Angel and Giles in order to save her life, and that it might be a while before she returned. The telepathy thing had become so deadly that only the vampire's presence could be tolerated anymore.

The reactions had been rather varied: Willow had been shocked at losing her best friend like this; Oz had been similarly shocked, even though no one could tell from the look on his face; Faith had looked worried about the white hats losing two of their heavy hitters (two and a half if you included Giles), and that the Slayage was now all completely up to her. But Cordelia had merely accepted the news calmly and honestly stated that she hoped Buffy got better soon, despite some looks that had earned her.

( _That's my girl. Despite the way we still fight now and then, Cor never ceases to surprise me,_ ) Xander thought to himself fondly as he headed for the cafeteria. ( _And yeah, I hope Buffy gets better soon too. I just wish that Deadboy wasn't hiding out alone with her like that. I'm pretty sure that if it was me and Cordy under those circumstances, we'd have gotten naked together less than thirty seconds after the front door slammed shut. _)

Weeks of regularly getting laid had definitely had an impact on the young man's thought patterns nowadays, that was certain. In fact things were so serious with his girlfriend that, not long ago, Xander had met with Cordelia's parents. Just like Oz with the Rosenberg's Xander had expected to have to defend himself against a lot of questions, like what sort of future a guy like him could offer their daughter, as well as a possible assault charge. Harris had also anticipated a lot of ass kissing in order to get those two not to simply reject his presence in Cordelia's life out of hand.

But strangely, during the meeting both Mr. and Mrs. Chase had acted nervous and distracted instead. There had been no police interrogation, no subtle cutting remarks about the Harris family reputation and about him personally. Later in private Cordelia had been overjoyed, thinking her parents were finally treating her like an adult and respecting her ability to make her own choices. But somehow, the pessimist in Xander Harris couldn't believe that.

Something was up with Cordy's mom and dad. Most likely, something not of the good.

At that moment, Amy Madison bumped into Xander. As he righted himself from the slight collision, the high school senior was shocked by her appearance. The brunette witch looked like she was completely stoned. "Amy?"

"Xander," she purred. Amy took a big sniff. "You smell gooood."

Unfortunately, the young woman had cast a 'my will be done' spell on herself last night, and her eyes now crackled blue for a second. Her magic then unleashed the hyena's sense of smell, a leftover from the Primal spirit possession Xander had undergone back in sophomore year.

Michael Czajak quickly came up and grabbed Amy away from Harris. "Sorry about this, I'll take care of her-"

"Amy, are you doing drugs?" Xander demanded of the brunette girl, his question startling Michael enough that Miss Madison was able to lurch away again. So he focused on the warlock, "'Cause I've seen that look before, pal. What is it, speed? Angel dust?" Xander's eyes narrowed. "You're not giving her roofies, are you?"

"She's not on drugs!" the other male teenager snapped. He fought down the urge to use his powers on Xander, which had significantly increased thanks to Rack and a number of mystical rituals Michael had performed on himself. "Amy's...uh, it's complicated."

"So, I'm listening," Xander replied, while watching Miss Madison slide down a nearby wall to collapse on her ass.

A sigh. "There's this guy called Rack downtown; I took her to his place a while back. He's a warlock, he knows lots of spells. Powerful ones that last for days. But Amy's been going there on her own a lot lately," Michael confessed, his white painted face and black lipstick not hiding his inner worry. "I, I think she's become a magic addict. And I'm not sure what I can do to help her."

"Sweet mamalooshin! Uh, okay, talk to Willow and Tara about this, and when he gets back, Giles too," Xander said firmly as Amy shoved her way up the wall to her feet again. "They'll know what to do. Or they can help you figure out what to do, anyway."

Michael didn't reply, he just nodded and went over to collect his secret crush to hustle her away as Principal Snyder appeared not far down the corridor. Xander took the hint and left as well.

His sense of smell having become much sharper, Xander noticed a foul odor the moment he walked into the school cafeteria. Following his nose, the young man hurried into the kitchen where he saw the obese lunch lady standing over a cooking pot and pouring in the contents of a big box labeled 'Rat Poison'.

( _Oh shit. The food, she's poisoned the food! I always knew this would happen one day!_ ) Xander turned around and ran as the woman glanced around and saw him. The lunch lady dropped the box and grabbed a butcher's knife, quickly following him.

"RAT POISON! RAT POISON!" Xander screamed as all the students stared at him. Harris ran around the room, knocking a bunch of trays off the various tables and trying to save the lives of the innocent. "The lunch lady, she's gone nuts! DON'T EAT THE FOOD!"

The woman in question burst out from the kitchen doors, butcher knife in hand. Panic spread like an airborne virus as all the students quickly ran for it. When she finally cornered Xander, the lunch lady pulled her arm back to deliver the killing blow for foiling her scheme.

Faith clamped her hand on the woman's wrist at the last moment, preventing her from completing the swing. "Okay, chill, ya crazy bitch."

"Vermin! You're all vermin. You come in here, and you eat, eat, eat. You leave your mess everywhere. Filth!" the clinically insane school employee screamed semi-incoherently.

"Yeah, I ain't seein' this being able to be settled with logic," Faith said philosophically. Quickly lowering the homicidal lunatic's arm, her Slayer-strength kick sent the butcher knife flying across the room to clatter harmlessly on the floor. Then Miss Lehane easily knocked the lunch lady out cold.

"Good thing I never was much for something like that."

* * *

**Blessed Memories Cemetery, Sunnydale**

**April 24****th****, 1999**

The 'my will be done' spell hadn't lasted long, even less time than Michael's 'be all you can be' spell in fact, and Xander went back to normal after Amy undid her mojo. It was obvious the young woman had developed a serious problem, and she wasn't letting anyone in to help either.

But that wasn't what Harris was thinking about right now. The young man's mind was on the late Jonathan Levinson, who had committed suicide at the school with a rifle on the very same day the 'normal guy' of the group had saved all those students in the cafeteria.

Xander stared down at Jonathan's grave sadly. Just like Willow, Cordelia and Amy, he had known the short nerd ever since kindergarten. And yet, they had never really connected. The teenager was suddenly reminded of the last time he and Jonathan had actually had a real conversation; the day he'd first met Tara at UC Sunnydale, all those months ago.

( _Why'd you do it, Jonathan?_ ) Xander asked himself, and not for the first time. ( _I know we can't save everyone, I told Buffy as much that night with Theresa Klusmeyer. But this...this didn't have to happen, dude. 'Cause your parents are practically brain-dead now, you know? I mean, Willow told me how what you did is majorly against their religion. Did you even stop to think about that? How killing yourself would affect them that way?_ )

Xander suddenly felt a warm hand slip into his. "I wasn't expecting to find you here," Cordelia's voice murmured.

"Yeah. It's just...I knew him, Cordy," Xander exhaled, still looking straight ahead. "And Jonathan killed himself practically at the same time that crazy lunch lady almost killed me. If Faith hadn't shown up when she did, we'd have both gone off into the afterlife together, hand in hand almost."

Cordelia immediately felt an icy stab of fear at the thought of losing her boyfriend and lover. ( _No way, that is NOT going to happen. There's only a few more weeks to go, and after Graduation I'll drag us both away from the Hellmouth so damned fast it'll cause whiplash!_ ) In reply though, Cordy said, "Do you remember back in junior year, one time I actually went out on a date with him? It was right after that whole frat boy demon snake thing, a few weeks before we kissed in Buffy's basement. Musta been the highlight of Jonathan's life, like literally."

"I remember," Xander nodded slowly. "And he was always there, wasn't he? At school or at the Bronze. But nobody noticed him, not even me most of the time, and I'm almost as much of an outcast geek as he was. I shoulda seen this coming, I should have-"

Cordelia silenced him with a deep kiss, and then a slap upside the head. "What was that for?" Xander asked, rubbing the sore spot.

"Being an idiot and blaming yourself for something that's not your fault," Tact Girl said bluntly. "You didn't know. You couldn't have known. Besides which, you had to save lives and become a hero at the time. Plus, your lameness factor has significantly decreased ever since junior year, y'know, dating me pretty much guaranteed it. I'm not saying you're popular or anything, but you're not at the same level as Jonathan or my insane-o invisible stalker from way back when. You never were, either."

"And I think that about 66 percent of that was actually a compliment. Gotta be a new record," Xander instinctively joked.

"Then don't make me regret it, you dope." With that, Cordelia took her boyfriend's hand again and led him out of the cemetery. After all, it was a Saturday and she could think of a lot more pleasant things for them to do than hang around here.

TBC...


	7. Rite Of Passage

See Part One for disclaimer and details. A big thank you, as always, to all those people who have hit that big shiny review button at the bottom of the screen. Okay, folks, we're getting towards the end here; only one more chapter to go after this one. The stage has been set, and all the clues have been given. Can anyone guess how this twisted and convoluted plot will end in the final chapter? Please review and tell me.

* * *

**Part Seven: Rite Of Passage**

**Giles residence, 523B Oak Park Street, Sunnydale**

**May 5****th****, 1999**

Xander and Cordelia let themselves into Rupert's apartment after school for a couple of reasons. One, they were housesitting for the librarian 'til he came back and two, nowadays both teens didn't have any other place to stay anyway.

Xander could well remember that night a few weeks ago. Cordelia had shown up broken and crying on his doorstep, and Jessica had let her in and gone to get her son at once. The 18-year-old boy had then heard the whole terrible tale from his shell-shocked girlfriend.

"I-I-I'm broke, Xander. As in no more money. At all! Anywhere! Everything's been taken away, even my horse Keanu. My clothes, my cell phone, my car, all of it – because Daddy's been cheating on his taxes. For the last twelve years, apparently. Now he's gonna go to jail, and Mom's practically in a coma. I, I can't stay at home anymore, 'cause we, we, we no longer have one. What...what am I going to do?"

Harris had promised her that they would figure something out, if not tomorrow then at least eventually, and then he'd taken Cordelia to his bedroom and held the girl in his arms all night as she cried herself to sleep. There had been nothing sexual, just an offering of unspoken aid and comfort. Which was exactly what Miss Chase had needed to maintain her sanity.

The young man knew he'd have to pay for it the next day, though. And sure enough, after his father's accusations of planning to turn the house into a brothel and whatnot, Xander had been unceremoniously kicked out of the Harris home. With nowhere else to go, he'd packed his things and moved into Giles's empty condo with the use of the spare key. Harris didn't know how long it would last, but since he had Rupert's permission for it via a phone call, the male teen had invited Cordelia to stay with him rather than that place near the docks.

Ceasing his wool-gathering, Xander looked around the apartment. "Still kinda hard for me to believe we're actually staying here. Together."

"Tell me about it. I mean, how the hell Giles can still live in this place is like completely beyond me, what with the way he found Ms. Calendar murdered in here last year," Cordelia said with a shudder.

Harris shrugged away the bad memories as he dumped his book bag on the sofa. "You heard anything lately from your mom, Cor?"

"No. She's gone and she's not coming back, I can feel it," the cheerleader scowled. "There's nothing left for her here in Sunnydale anymore – not even me. And apart from you, I can SO relate to that idea. Some best friend Harmony turned out to be, that little two-faced bitch!"

Xander gestured her to sit down. "We need to talk. As in what the plan is for after Graduation."

Cordelia sat. "Well, you know how I can't afford anymore to go to any of the colleges which accepted me, I already told you that," the girl said crossly before she sighed. "Besides, you were never too hot on the idea of going to places like Colorado, Durham and New York anyway."

( _For the road trip, I sure would have. And too bad how I can't afford to go all Kerouac like that now. But hey, priorities and all._ ) "Okay then, so what are we gonna do? Especially once Giles arrives home and wants his apartment back. My road trip money will last us a little while, I suppose, but still. Maybe if I can get a job somewhere while you continue working at April Fools-" Xander started to say.

"Xander? I don't want to work there for even one second longer than it takes me to buy my Prom dress," Cordelia interrupted decisively. "I mean, I know my choices are really limited now and my princess days are totally over, but I'm telling you: I utterly hate that job. Mrs. Finkel so has it in for me, and those morons who come in to buy stuff don't even listen to what I tell them half the time!"

Xander smothered a grin. "So what's the alternative?"

Cordy took a deep breath and grabbed hold of her boyfriend's hands. "Once high school is over? We buy a couple of bus tickets to LA and start a new life there together. With me eventually becoming a rich and famous movie star, of course. What you become is totally and completely up to you."

Xander initially didn't know what to say. ( _Whoa. Leave everyone and everything we know behind? I know I was willing to do that before for the whole college dealie, but I thought that'd just be for three or four years and we'd eventually come back home._ ) Eventually he stammered, "A-are you serious?"

"Hell, yes!" Cordelia declared. "Xander, I know you still have issues about Willow and Buffy and the whole Slayage thing in general. But if you want to fight evil without the certain death aspect of it, there are ordinary people who do that outside of Sunnydale every day. Like the LAPD and LA Fire Department, for example. Not everyone fights the things that go bump in the night, which you personally proved a few weeks ago."

Reminded of that insane lunch lady, Xander said uncertainly, "Yeah, I suppose." He thought about it and then, making his decision, the young man straightened up. "Okay then, I guess it's settled. We'll tell the gang whenever you're ready, and start looking for a place we can afford to rent after we head for the big city?"

Cordelia nodded and passionately kissed him, not bothering to hide her relief as they fell together onto the couch. Even though she'd known the odds were that her boyfriend wouldn't have stayed here on the Hellmouth once she'd told him the plan, it had still been worrying in the sense that her circumstances were now way different and the dweeb still had this stupid ridiculous fear of one day turning into his father.

( _It's all finally coming together now, I can feel it,_ ) Cordelia thought to herself much later, basking in the afterglow. ( _And it's gonna be tough at first to survive as a struggling actress, I know. But as long as I have my future husband there with me, there is no damn way I'm gonna fail to succeed._ )

* * *

**Sunnydale High Principal's Office, Sunnydale**

**May 11****th****, 1999**

"No, Principal Snyder, I haven't seen any sign of drugs or drug use recently," Wesley replied to the man's question.

"You sure? Because I know all the kids around here are currently up to something, especially the troublemakers. Wouldn't surprise me if they go into that library to make out and shoot up all the time," Snyder scowled, looking more cranky and irritated than usual. Which was probably due to his inability to target Buffy for punishment, one of the few pleasures the high school principal seemed to get out of life.

"As far as I can tell the students of this school, or at least the huge majority of them, are completely ignorant of the fact that the library even exists," Wesley replied, wisely ignoring that reference to the Slayer and her friends.

"It's no wonder then that this school's academic record sucks. And I blame the other Englishman for that, y'know. Complete technophobe," Snyder was sitting at his desk and looked at a piece of paper. "You heard from Mr. Giles lately? Because his leave time is almost completely used up. And if he isn't back within the end of the year, you can tell him that he's fired, family emergency or not."

Wesley inclined his head. He hadn't anticipated it would take so long to find another of those telepathic demons, and the Council wasn't even returning his calls about the subject anymore. "When next Rupert gets in touch with me, I'll convey the information."

"Good. And don't forget about tonight, you're on chaperone duty in the school gym. Prom night, remember?" Snyder demanded. He then gestured at Wesley to leave. Ever since the Mayor had been killed, he'd been under a lot more scrutiny from the school board and the paperwork had really started piling up.

Wes left, heading back to the library. Even after all the time he'd been here, the guidance counselor still didn't think of it as "his" library. This was Rupert Giles's domain despite the fact that the other Englishman had been absent for weeks now.

( _Things'll have to change soon,_ ) Wesley mused to himself. ( _As soon as the school year's over, perhaps. I mean the pay is pitiful, the place is far too public and I swear to God, I can't take much more of Snyder's attitude. Not without ripping out his septum, anyway. Besides, Faith isn't a student here and God only knows when Buffy will be back..._ )

At that moment, the library doors banged open and the Scooby gang all poured inside. Xander was looking more than a little scratched and bleeding, the result of tussling with a vicious demon at Cordelia's workplace. "Hey, Wes, you got a VCR in here?"

"Yes, the audio-visual section, near the back. Now what the devil happened to you?" the Watcher asked in surprise.

"Had a run-in with a demon at April Fools, while I was on my tuxedo hunt for the Prom," Xander said promptly. "Cordy was there, too."

"Burning a hole in Daddy's wallet, huh?" Faith smirked at Miss Chase.

"Hey, that's not nice," Willow defended her classmate and one-time dreaded social enemy. After talking it over with Oz and Tara, Miss Rosenberg had come to a hard and painful decision regarding her best male friend, and that was to let him ride off into the sunset under the best possible circumstances. Which meant accepting that Cordelia's claim on the guy superseded her own, and finally growing up – in every sense of the term.

"Right. Sorry," the Slayer nodded to the cheerleader, who merely avoided her gaze.

"So. Let's have a look at this tape then, shall we?" Wesley tried to keep things focused and professional.

Willow set up the machinery, and then the white hats watched the surveillance videotape. "You know the part that totally weirded me out? How that thing had good taste in clothes. I mean, he chucked Xander aside and went right for the guy in formal wear," Cordelia pointed to a boy in a tux that had been killed by the demon.

"Any idea what it is, Wes?" Faith asked professionally, ignoring that apparently irrelevant comment.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is a hellhound," Wyndam-Pryce frowned at the grainy image. "It's sort of a demon foot soldier bred during the Machash Wars. Trained solely to kill. They feed off the brains of their foes, which as you can all see is more than a little disgusting."

"How do I kill it?" Miss Lehane asked.

"Um, the usual slice and dice treatment will suffice I believe. I'll double-check to be sure. But the problem is we don't know who it's working for, or why it attacked Xander and its other victim earlier today..."

Oz squinted at the monitor screen. "Xander, can you rewind it a little?" The guy did so, and hit Play. A few seconds later Daniel said, "Right there. Pause it." The werewolf then pointed to someone peering through the shop's broken window with what appeared to be more than casual interest. "Who's that?"

"Hello, hellhound raiser," Harris said in satisfaction after a burst of insight. "Okay, who are you?"

A short time later, the Scoobies had identified the mystery man. "Tucker Wells. Didn't he graduate last year?" Cordelia asked, her sharp mind having a focus for such things.

"He was in a number of my classes," Oz nodded.

"Oooh, I got into Tucker's e-mail account! Listen to the message he sent to this kid named David Metz last week. 'The Sunnydale High lemmings have no idea what awaits them. Their big night will be their last night.' Not of the good," Willow shivered.

"Well, I'd say that now we know the why as well as the who. That asshole's going to attack Senior Prom tonight with his pet demon," Cordelia said with her own burst of insight.

"Once again, the Hellmouth puts the 'special' in special occasion. Why do we even buy tickets for these things, I ask you?" Xander wondered out loud.

Faith was thinking about something else though. "We gotta split up, find this guy. Wes, you said this thing eats brains. Any particular type?"

"Not as far as I know."

Willow could follow where the Chosen One was going with this faster than anyone else. "If Tucker's feeding it brains, he'd go for the easiest ones to get without arousing unnecessary suspicion. Like, say, from the meatpacking plant."

"You and Oz check it out, and see if you can get Miss Maclay to help you if you need the extra manpower. Faith, you go to the address listed for the Wells residence; it's unlikely he'll still be there, but you never know what clues you might find. Xander and Cordelia, you talk to this David Metz chap, see if he knows anything," Wesley issued orders like an Army general. "And please hurry, all of you. I definitely don't feel in the mood for being part of a massacre tonight."

* * *

**Sunnydale High, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

Faith had had no luck as expected, the only person who had been present at the Wells house was a guy named Andrew who said he hadn't seen his big brother in nearly a week. That was before he tried to be charming to the Slayer, which quickly made the girl in question motor before Faith did something she was sure she'd later regret.

Xander and Cordelia had struck out as well. David had been openly contemptuous of them both, as Miss Chase's popularity had indeed vanished just as Harmony had predicted would happen. Xander's hand around David's throat for insulting one of his girls, on the other hand, had convinced Metz to open up; but there had been nothing new to learn. Tucker had gone underground completely and cut off all communications this late in the game.

Luckily, Oz and Willow had learned the address where the cow brains were being delivered from a worker at the abattoir, and had rushed back to the library to inform the others. Faith had then told everyone to go attend the Prom while she checked it out, and if the hellhound showed up to distract it away from the rest of the guests 'til she arrived to deal with it.

Unfortunately, what the Chosen One didn't know was that Tucker had raised and trained four such demon foot soldiers. Miss Lehane took out the one still present at Tucker's base...

The other three though were a completely different matter.

"Arrrggggh!" Amy screamed in fear as she and Michael encountered the hell beasts in the school corridor. Miss Madison was instantly convinced she was having the magical equivalent of an acid flashback, given her constant visits to Rack's little den of iniquity which no one had been able to talk her out of.

"Protect!" the male warlock shouted, as a yellow shield formed directly in front of the two humans. The charging demonic trio attacked but simply bounced off the mystical barrier, repelled by the powerful magicks. ( _Yes! Go me. I don't need Rack anymore, I knew all those hours of looking up my own spells and practising the craft would pay off eventually!_ )

Snarling, the demon dogs looked ready to lope off towards the gym and feast on the crowd, but Michael didn't give them the opportunity.

"Klyv mat chyvma klyvma chyt!" he shouted again with a gesture, as a swirling portal opened up in the floor.

The hellhounds were not, as Wesley had hinted, the greatest thinkers of the demon world but they knew danger when they saw it. The hounds tried to run for it, but the portal was stronger and began to suck the three evil things down into the depths of the abyss.

Howling and whining the hellhounds, and then the portal, vanished just before Faith came running into the school. "Uh, hey. You guys seen any dogs tonight that mighta looked like they had a weird case of rabies?" the Slayer asked the magical couple.

"I'm seeing things again," Amy said to herself, her eyes glazed over. "Michael, where am I?"

"At the school, Amy. It's Prom night," Michael told her. He then told Faith, "I took care of all three of them, don't worry about it."

"How did you-" Faith saw a fireball ignite in Michael's hand, and abruptly remembered who and what he was. "Right, stupid question. So you guys are by five by five?"

"Five what by five what?" Amy asked vaguely as Michael extinguished the fire.

"Never mind," Miss Lehane shook her head. "You two have a nice Prom and all. And yo, butch, good job on dealing with the demon Fidos like that."

But as Michael escorted Amy to the dance, Faith's praise seemed to matter little to the young man who was still desperately worried about his traumatized date.

* * *

**Abandoned warehouse, downtown Sunnydale**

**May 17****th****, 1999**

Senior year was at last coming to an end, and most of the students wanted to celebrate the fact that the end of school was taking place this coming Friday. Maroon graduation gowns were being issued, yearbooks were being signed, and as Buffy Summers would have put it in another world, "the whole senior class has turned into the Sixties, or what the Sixties would have been like without the war and the hairy armpits".

All this was of no interest to the demon Balthazar, though. Ever since he had killed Richard Wilkins months ago the Slayers had become the new number one on his shit list. One of them, the older blonde had disappeared and no one had seen her for a month; the gossip at Willy's had it that she was most likely dead. But the other one, the brunette, she was making a damned nuisance of herself destroying his minions.

She had even chased him out of his latest lair in the sewers. Which, after the last three months, was something NOT to be tolerated.

"Let me tell you what I see," Balthazar hissed at El Eliminati. "I see fear...and remorse...and the pitiful look of faces that cry out for mercy. But what I don't see is what I want to see, AND THAT'S THE SLAYER'S DEAD BODY!"

"Lord Balthazar, we've tried-" Vincent started to say.

"You've tried? And what have you achieved for your efforts? Nothing! Now get out of here, go find the Slayer and kill her! Kill everyone that gets in your way! GOOOOO! GOOOOO!" Balthazar ranted at his chief lieutenant.

"Oh, please. You want to kill the Slayer? I'm the one who's gonna do that. After all, I've already killed two of them," a male British voice was heard to say.

Everyone whirled around to stare at the new arrival. "Who are you?" Balthazar demanded.

"Name's Spike," William sauntered forward. "You're that Balthazar bloke, right? Heard about you. The big noise in these parts, nowadays."

"William the Bloody," the demon grunted, finally recognizing his undead guest. "You don't have a reputation for playing well with others. Why should I be interested in your offer to kill the Slayer for me?"

Spike didn't reply. He just touched a button on the remote control hidden within his hand, and the roof of the warehouse exploded.

The multiple bomb blasts not only sent fragments of wood and tiles soaring into the air, but they also let in the lethal sunshine as the entire structure collapsed. To the last acolyte, all the gathered Eliminati erupted in flames. Balthazar looked around in shock as all his minions became dust, before exploding in rage at the enemy. Grabbing one of the swords on the floor, the demon quickly decapitated Spike with one clean stroke. In his mindless fury, it never even occurred to Balthazar to wonder why the Aurelian vampire wasn't ashes as well.

That is until the headless body calmly walked over to where the head had landed, and the British vamp installed it back in its rightful place. The bloody line where the sword had sheared his head away from his neck vanished as if it had never existed.

"How...?" Balthazar asked in befuddled wonder.

"We need to get a few things straight, mate," Spike said in a conversational tone as he came forward. "You were right about me not liking having to share my hunting ground, but you were wrong in thinkin' that I was offering to work fer you. Never said that, did I? Just said I'm the one who's gonna kill the bloody Slayers. And I will...after one unfinished piece o' business."

"What business is that?" Balthazar asked, his demon worm body instinctively moving towards the sewer access.

It was pretty obvious when a few seconds later Balthazar ended up with his skull completely pierced by a heavy jewelled blade, his body collapsing into goo after Spike moved with undead super-speed. William then looked at the green Gem of Amara on his finger, which he had finally found after months of unrelenting search.

"One down, Dru. Lots more to go."

* * *

**UC Sunnydale, California**

**The next day**

Willow and Tara had been practicing a demon-detection spell in Miss Maclay's dorm, when the blonde had gotten caught trying to sabotage it. The redhead demanded an explanation, and eventually the high school valedictorian learned to her shock that Tara was part-demon. Or that she was going to turn into a demon in the future, anyway.

"How's that even possible?" Willow wanted to know, looking quite horrified.

Tara lifted her eyes to stare at the other witch. "All I know is on my 20th birthday, I-I-I turn into a demon. It's a-a curse on the women of my family, a-apparently."

"Well, I've never heard of anything like that," Willow said, shaking her head. "So, so, exactly what type of demon will you turn into when the time comes?"

"I, I don't know," Tara confessed. "I left home before they could tell me. I, um, I didn't really want to know at the time."

Willow decided to check it out a bit further. She considered Tara a friend now as well as her magic teacher, and as such, her curiosity could not be contained. Miss Rosenberg quickly opened the spell book to a new chapter, and eventually found what she was looking for. Willow briefly familiarized herself with the incantation, and then said pointing at the other witch, "Spiritus reveale!"

Tara's outline flared white for a second. "W-what did you do?" the college girl asked, feeling totally wigged out.

"It's a spell Wesley told me about that he's used in the past. To identify a person's soul via making their aura visible," Willow replied. She recalled that particular conversation with the Watcher, who had been a bit too honest with the teenage female genius. Wesley's recollections of that demon cave in Europe, where people had been horribly tortured and their souls consumed, had made Miss Rosenberg want to throw up afterwards.

"But Tara, listen to me; whoever told you that you were a demon, they lied to you. You're pure human, I saw it just now. If there was any demonic taint within you, it would have shown up in your aura. But there was nothing there to see!" Willow insisted.

Tara was stunned. "Are, are you sure?"

"Positive."

Miss Maclay didn't know what to say. The beliefs of a lifetime couldn't be thrown out the window quite that easily, but what reason would Willow have to lie? ( _My father...he lied to me? And my brother too? Even Cousin Beth? Oh. My. God._ )

"Tara, are you okay?" Miss Rosenberg asked in deep concern.

"No. I'm r-r-really not," the older witch choked out. "Willow, m-my own family lied to me. They told me my mother fell victim to the curse, that h-h-her demon got out of control while I was away at school one day. She, she died barely two years ago, but I...I think now they murdered her, a-a-after she found out the truth somehow. Mom was the one who taught me everything I know about the craft, she..." Tara couldn't help it, she broke down and started crying her eyes out.

Willow felt helpless, and had no idea what to say. She knew what it was like to feel betrayed by family; the Jewish girl had had nightmares months ago about her mother dragging her back to City Hall to finish the job she had started while under that demon's influence. But this was different; her friend was the victim of a deliberate act of evil arising out of free will.

Tara finally got her emotions somewhat under control. "I'm sorry," she sniffled to her companion. Amazingly, her stutter seemed to be gone. "I simply couldn't help myself just now."

"That's okay," Willow said awkwardly. "I'm sorry, too. And if it's worth anything, I think I kinda have an idea of what you're going through. What with the way I almost got burned at the stake that night by my mom; I mean, it took me quite a while to be able to trust her again."

"Xander saved you, Buffy and Amy then," Tara recalled, using some tissues to clean up her face.

"Yeah," Willow said fondly. "Him and the others. But I remember how he personally came charging in like some kinda white knight-"

"Don't call him that," Tara interrupted, shaking her head. "Xander really hates that nickname for some reason." Off Willow's look, she added, "I know because he told me. Just like he told me what happened last year between the two of you, that whole kissing thing."

"What? You, you, you know about THAT?" Willow yelped in a panic. ( _Oh my God, Xander, what have you done? I thought that particular craziness was over, done with and forgotten, but Tara knows. Who, who else knows?_ )

"I can keep a secret, you can relax," Tara said swiftly. By now she had buried the romantic feelings she had for Willow, figuring that the girl of her dreams was completely straight. Which was a cosmic irony on one hell of a grand scale, so to speak, even if the Tara of this world would never know that. "No one else knows, and they never will from me. Especially not Oz and Cordelia."

"Um, thanks," Willow stammered. She glanced at her watch, "Uh, y'know what? I, I think I better get going. This has been a, a, pretty weird magic tutorial session, even by my standards. So, I'll, I'll see you next week."

"I'm sorry if I've upset you," Tara sighed, suspecting that the other girl had gotten spooked enough to maybe decide never to come back here. Willow and Oz would be heading off to Oxford soon, or so she'd heard, so the odds weren't good for a future meeting. "I really shouldn't have said anything; it's just that I'm more than a bit upset right now. I think my sense of judgment...kind of isn't at its best at the moment."

"Oh, well, uh, that's totally understandable, I guess," Willow said hastily, gathering her things. "Yeah, okay, g'bye."

Tara escorted her guest to the door. "Goodbye, Willow." It was a farewell in more ways than one, both fortunately and unfortunately.

* * *

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale**

**Later that night**

( _I still can't believe how Xander actually mentioned the clothes fluke to Tara. And I never even had a clue over the last four months that she knew all along? I really am Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel!_ ) Willow was then distracted from thinking about that recent conversation, when one of her magic friends was granted the floor in tonight's meeting.

"I'm telling you, Amy's in real trouble!" Michael insisted. "I caught her the other night trying to steal my entire supply of sage, for crying out loud. She's, she's completely self-destructing, and I don't know how to stop her!"

Wesley frowned and looked around at the others. Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and Faith were standing or sitting at the table, wanting to help but not knowing how. "We've talked to the girl about her problem before, both individually and in a group setting. So perhaps an intervention of some sort-" he began to say.

"That won't do any good!" the warlock interrupted frantically. "She won't listen, all Amy cares about now is getting her next fix. God, this is all my fault! I should have never taken her to Rack's in the first place!"

At that moment, the phone rang. Wesley went to answer it, "Hello?" He paused to listen, his expression visibly altering. "What? Well, what did he say? Hang on a moment." The Watcher grabbed a pen and paper, and started scribbling madly. "Are you sure that's everything? Right, well, I'll see you when you get here. And yes, hopefully we can put a stop to this."

"Yo, Wes, what's up?" Faith wanted to know.

"That was an old friend named Robson on the phone just now. He said one of the seers in London babbled out a prophecy before falling into a coma. I've written down what he said, word for word. It's about the Belial siphon spell-"

Michael was looking confused. "Uh, what's a Belial siphon spell?" he interrupted.

Wesley briefly explained but the warlock just shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry, but right now, I don't care. I'm sorry, but I just don't. I gotta help Amy." With that, Michael left the library. Xander watched him depart with quite a bit of sympathy; two years ago, he'd acted the exact same way when he'd learned Buffy was inevitably destined to be killed by the Master.

"As I was saying, the Belial siphon? Right now, Quentin Travers and the rest of them are going stark raving bonkers back in England. Apparently that damned spell is going to be taking place right here, sometime very soon," Wesley said grimly. "And all we have to go on is this bloody prophecy!"

"I hate prophecies," Xander said simply, his mind still focused on the past.

"What exactly does it say?" Willow asked, feeling terrified. ( _Oh, Buffy, I really wish you were here right now. We need everyone we can get for this one!_ )

Wesley recited from his hastily scribbled transcript, "The one who sees everything has befriended a witch at the behest of another, the fallen one. By his actions, the fate of man is sealed; a death that never should have been will bring about the end, at the hand of one filled with grief and vengeance. Unless the whipping boy raised by mongrels prevents it. He must see beyond the seen, hear beyond the heard, and know beyond the known. And sacrifice is inevitable, lest eternal damnation occurs."

There was a brief silence. "Well, that was just nuttier than a fruitcake," Cordelia said, screwing up her gorgeous features into a grimace. "I mean, who's this whipping boy?" she asked in confusion.

"Who the heck is the one who sees everything?" Xander wanted to know.

"And who the hell's this fallen one?" Faith demanded.

"Someone's gonna die?" Willow asked tentatively. "And, and someone's gonna go all vengeance-y?"

"Not liking the sound of that whole sacrifice thing," Oz added in his own two cents.

The five teens started to hurl questions at Wesley, till the Watcher said in no uncertain terms, "Quiet, all of you! I need to think-"

"Yeah, Percy? About what?" Spike asked as he swaggered in through the library doors and everyone turned to face him. "Well, bleedin' heck. Don't I even get a hello?"

"Spike!" Willow yelped in fear as Oz quickly shoved her behind him.

"I'd say this qualifies for a worst-timing-ever award," Xander muttered, as he did likewise with Cordelia.

"This is the vamp responsible for that frickin' love spell last year?" Faith snarled, yanking a stake out from the back of her pants. She had grown in confidence and self-esteem ever since Buffy had been forced to leave Sunnydale, and was looking forward to the upcoming battle as a test of her skills and of course to rid the world of a vampire.

"Oy, now that wasn't my fault!" Spike's grin melted into a belligerent scowl. "Red here was too incompetent to get it right, can't blame me for that!"

Faith didn't reply, she just darted forward and staked Spike directly in the heart. Oddly, he made no move to try to stop her or avoid it; and then, instead of exploding into ash, William simply withdrew the wooden weapon and the hole in his chest sealed shut without a trace. The stake fell to the floor as Spike said, "Ooops. Problem, Slayer?"

Without warning he lashed out, hitting the stunned Faith with a jaw-breaking punch that sent her flying off across the library. Miss Lehane ended up unconscious after she slammed into the wall, quickly sliding down and collapsing into a broken heap.

"Faith!" more than one Scooby member yelled out, staring in horror at their fallen champion and the vampire who'd bested her.

Wesley instantly raced over to her side, and was relieved to see that his charge was still alive at least. ( _Praise the Lord for the small mercies, anyway._ )

"Now that's what I call gettin' up close 'n personal," Spike said in satisfaction after seeing all their faces and the results of his attack. "Right, who's next outta you lot?"

"Spike, please, don't do this..." Willow started to say desperately.

"Willow, luv, d'you have any idea how long I've been waiting to kill you?" Spike asked jovially, and Xander immediately placed himself alongside Oz as Cordelia joined the redhead behind them. "Promised you that I would that night if you failed me, remember? Well, now it's finally time-"

"Over my dead body," Oz said simply.

"Not a problem, mate," Spike said cheerfully, before his undead nostrils told him what Oz really was. "Ah, bugger, don't have anything silver on me! Well, never mind, Dog Boy. I'll just have to make do somehow."

The vampire attacked, effortlessly batting Oz and Xander away to different sides of the room. With a casual slap, Cordelia was also knocked aside and Spike grabbed Willow around the neck. "Now before I kill you, pet, I do have a question. Where's Captain Forehead and his sodding Slayer girlfriend?"

"Let her go!" Xander yelled, even as he raced to check on his girlfriend.

"Sorry, but that's not an option," Spike smirked before turning to Oz. "And you, the human mutt. Don't try anything heroic, mate, understand? Just answer the bloody question!"

"Buffy's dead," Cordelia desperately tried to bluff Spike as everyone turned to stare at her. "She died about a month ago, thanks to some way-ugly demon or another. Angel decided to step out into the sunlight the very next morning, and we sprinkled his ashes over her grave like he wanted. Happy now?"

Spike frowned at her. The information was compatible with the rumors he'd heard at Willy's lately, but still...something just didn't feel quite right about the situation. Looking around he asked, "So where's the librarian, then? Haven't seen that fella around at all lately."

"Giles left town after the funeral," Oz supplied emotionlessly. "Now let Willow go before I tear your head off."

Spike openly laughed, "You're welcome to try it, ya dumb pillock! That idiot Balthazar, he did that already. Didn't accomplish anything 'fore I took care of him and his useless bunch of gits."

Everyone looked surprised to hear that news, given how they had been unsuccessfully battling the demon and his servants for months now. Wesley got up and moved away from the unconscious Faith's side. "William the Bloody. Slayer of two Slayers, according to my research. Hot-headed, impulsive, yet very deadly."

Wes recalled the intensive study he had done on both Angel and Spike before coming to Sunnydale, and was suddenly very grateful for it. He saw the ring on William's finger and nodded once as something went 'click' inside his mind. "You've found the Gem of Amara, the vampire Holy Grail? Quite an accomplishment, I have to say. Really must give you an edge, becoming invulnerable to harm thanks to its presence."

"Who are you?" Spike instinctively growled at Wes. He didn't like his enemies having such detailed knowledge about his strengths and weaknesses.

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. You might know me better though as the man who killed Drusilla, your sire."

It was a damned huge risk for the Watcher to take, but fortunately it paid off. Throwing Willow aside in his sudden mindless rage, William screamed incoherently and charged forward to tear Wesley into little pieces. "YOU?! YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE! YOU STAKED MY DRU? I'LL BLOODY KILL YOU FOR THAT! RIP YER HEAD OFF AND PISS DOWN YOUR NECK! SHIT ALL OVER YOUR-"

But the moment he got to within striking distance, Wesley's hidden sword extended out of its wrist sheath and the weapon neatly severed Spike's left hand, depriving him of the Gem. Unfortunately for the human, the pain didn't fully distract the vampire who subsequently fastened his fangs onto the British man's neck and began to feed as fast as he could.

It was up to Xander to hit Spike over the head with the table lamp since Oz was taking care of Willow, who was unconscious after hitting her head on the floor. Wesley collapsed to the ground as the vampire growled before turning to face Harris. "I'm warning you, whelp-"

Spike then instinctively recoiled at the cross Xander shoved in his face, clutching his stump of a wrist in pain. "Argh! You annoying-"

"Cordy, smash that gem!" the male teen called out.

"NO!!!" the English vampire yelled, but it was too late. Cordelia already had the ring in her possession, discarding Spike's amputated hand with a shudder. "You so much as try it, bint, and I'll kill him! I swear, I'll even turn your boy and make 'im kill you afterwards!"

Oz got up and grabbed a stake, heading towards Spike and Xander. "Not if I kill you first."

The vampire then made a critical mistake; he glanced at the new part of the equation, and Harris seized the opportunity to press his cross against Spike's face. Howling from the unexpected agony, the soulless creature decided he didn't like the odds anymore. After grabbing his hand up off the floor, a cursing William the Bloody simply left the library as fast as he could in order to recover and regroup.

"We need to get the wounded to a hospital, now!" Xander said urgently to his male buddy and his girlfriend, who helped him gather up the fallen members of the group and head for Oz's van.

To Be Concluded...


	8. It's The End Of The World  Again?

See Part One for disclaimer and details. Well, that's it folks, after about 6000 hits this one has come to an end. Hope you all liked it, or at least didn't actively dislike it, and I just wanted to thank everyone again who's reviewed and emailed me about the story. Feedback, I crave it like you wouldn't believe. Anyway, enough with the author comments, let's get on with the show...

* * *

**Part Eight: It's The End of The World...Again?**

**Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, Sunnydale**

**May 18****th****, 1999**

Xander left Faith's hospital room after checking on the girl who had often saved his life. She was now awake, if badly injured, but that good old Slayer healing would no doubt be kicking in and do its job, and soon enough she would be fit to be discharged. Not far away, Willow wasn't seriously hurt but, since she had suffered a head injury, the doctors insisted on keeping her under observation for a while. So with Oz hovering around her like a second shadow, Harris wasn't too worried about her anymore.

Wesley, on the other hand, was in pretty bad shape. Spike had nearly drained him completely, and it was only the fact that the Watcher was too damned stubborn to die which had kept him alive during the ride between the library and the hospital. Still, poor old Wes was now in a coma, and the prognosis didn't look good.

( _Someone should call his family over there in the land of bangers and mash,_ ) Xander thought to himself absently. ( _I'd do it myself, except I don't know who the hell to even get in touch with. Maybe Giles will know? Yeah, I better give him a call._ )

The male Slayerette thought about Spike as well on his way to the hospital lobby, reminding himself to keep an eye out for the vampire. Given how it was a public building, and the bad guy could easily come in to finish what he'd started at the high school. But Harris needn't have worried: William the Bloody had unexpectedly encountered some stray Eliminati who hadn't been at the warehouse yesterday, and who had heard what had happened to the rest of their group thanks to the demon grapevine.

Thus, the black Dodge DeSoto and its solitary passenger were right now departing Sunnydale for the third and possibly final time.

( _Kinda weird,_ ) Xander mused to himself as he walked along. ( _It's all ended up almost exactly how it was this time last year. Library got attacked by a vamp, and the new Slayer came out the loser in that fight. The Watcher's hurt bad. Willow's in the hospital, Oz is with her. Cordy's around, but Buffy's missing. Ditto Angel and Giles. As for the annual impending apocalypse...oh dear God! Please don't tell me I just totally jinxed myself! _)

Xander arrived near the front doors of the hospital to find Cordelia talking to someone on the phone. She said her goodbyes as the buxom brunette noticed her boyfriend approaching her, and they briefly kissed. Not one of their usual passion-filled kisses, just something to show how glad they were to see one another safe and well.

"Hey," Cordy said, leaning into his embrace.

"Hey. Who were you talking to just now?" Xander asked, stroking her hair.

"Willow's mom. She and her dad are on their way over here." Miss Chase disengaged herself from Xander's grasp and asked, "Is Willow gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Harris nodded. "So's Faith. It's Wesley who I'm worried about."

Cordelia shook her head. She had always been mildly attracted to the roguishly handsome Watcher, but never done anything about it, thanks to love and Wesley's somewhat abrasive personality. "You think those people who are coming from England might be able to help him?"

Xander shrugged, he hadn't considered that. "Maybe. I hope so." Then he said, "Cor, you still got that mojo ring which Spike had on?"

Miss Chase fished it out of her pocket. "Here. Xander, you can have the personal pleasure of smashing it. I'll pass; I'm still trying to repress how gross it was to have to touch that cold dead hand of his!"

Xander took the Gem of Amara, but instead of looking for something with which to destroy it, he just stared at the green stone carefully before putting it away in his own pocket. "Not yet, I...I've got the funny feeling that it might come in useful, somehow. Don't ask me why or how, I just do."

Cordelia was willing to trust in her boyfriend's instincts. "If you say so."

At that moment, Michael the warlock came in through the doors with a convulsing Amy in his arms. "Help! I need a doctor!" he yelled as loud as he could.

An intern named Ben approached at once. "What happened?" he demanded.

"She, she collapsed. A-a-and then this started happening," Michael babbled. "Amy's in trouble, you gotta help her!"

A nurse came over with a gurney, and the intern helped load the teenage witch onto it. Ben took out his pocket light and tried to check Amy's eyes for a response, as the nurse tried to keep the thrashing girl still. The intern didn't like what he saw, though. The nurse started taking notes for Ben while Amy was wheeled into the emergency room, "Pupils are unequal and unresponsive-"

"What's that mean?" Michael demanded, as he, Xander and Cordelia followed.

"Please, you gotta give us some room," the nurse said, trying to move the onlookers away as Ben was joined by a doctor named Isaacs.

"What have we got?" the resident asked at once.

"Convulsions, breathing problems; maybe some sort of anaphylactic shock," Ben replied, attempting to get the struggling Amy to calm down. He said to the nurse, "Get me two cc's of nortropine-atropine, calm her-"

Just then, Amy's body almost broke in half from one final spastic heave before the female corpse collapsed limply back onto the gurney. Ben desperately tried to resuscitate the young woman, but it was too late for him to do anything other than call out the time of death.

"No! No-no-no, she's not dead, she can't be!" Michael screamed out, attempting to get to his beloved.

"I'm sorry, son," Dr. Isaacs said sympathetically, holding the male teen back as Ben closed Amy's eyes and gestured to the nurse for something to cover her up. "I'm so very sorry. But there's nothing more we can do-"

"No. Maybe you can't do anything, but I can!" Michael shouted, turning around and walking away.

Xander and Cordelia, shocked and horrified after witnessing their classmate's agonized painful death like this, hurried after him. "Michael?" Xander called out.

"WHAT?" the warlock snarled as he turned around, then he calmed down a bit upon seeing who it was approaching him. "Sorry. What is it?"

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Cordelia asked somewhat fearfully, after seeing the guy's expression.

"What do you think? I'm gonna make Rack pay for what he's done," the male teen replied with a frightening intensity. "He knew what was happening to her, he must have! But the goddamn bastard still took Amy's money and did whatever she wanted! No way does someone like that get to live after Amy chokes to death on all the magic he filled her with!"

"You're gonna kill him?" Xander asked carefully.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna give it my best shot," Michael replied savagely.

"Uh, but I thought this guy was like some kind of super-powered Merlin or something?" Cordelia asked, recalling what Michael had said the library earlier. "It sounds to me like you're planning to commit suicide!"

The warlock lost all interest in the conversation, figuring these two were just wasting his time. "Let me put it this way, Cordelia. How the hell would you feel if it was Xander laying dead on that gurney right now?" Michael snapped, before rushing off as fast as he could. His body somehow appeared to blur as he went out the front doors of the building.

The Harris-Chase duo ran after him, but as soon as they got outside the hospital they found that Michael had disappeared. After making their way back inside Sunnydale Memorial, Xander said to his girlfriend, "You stay here, okay? Call Giles, and tell him what's happened to Wesley and the others. I'm gonna call Tara. From what I heard, I'll need her to find that magic place Michael's headed to. Thing is, I don't know for sure what's going to happen if those two guys decide to throw down, but I betcha it'll be something nobody's going to enjoy finding out."

Cordelia looked very dubious about the plan, but proceeded to do what her beloved asked anyway.

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**A short while later**

Just like ten months ago, Rack was restlessly prowling around in his private quarters, thinking about what to do.

He could feel pain and death, which meant that someone he'd once been involved with was now stone cold. That would normally be enough to make him edgy, but there was also a new power surging through Sunnydale now, Rack could feel that as well. A force empowered by grief and rage. He'd never felt anything quite like it before, but he mystically knew that it was out for blood.

Rack suddenly went still. The magic dealer then only just managed to dodge in time as the door to his inner sanctum was blasted off its hinges by a telekinetic strike. Michael could subsequently be seen standing in the doorway, his eyes as black as night and his voice as cold as the grave.

"Hello, Rack."

"Hello yourself, kiddo," the man said in reply, no sign of the slight nervousness he felt visible on his face. "Quite an entrance. You've never heard of knocking?"

"Sorry. It must be that whole Amy dying situation that's making it hard for me to be concerned about the little things right now."

Rack stared at the boy very carefully as he came all the way inside. ( _That explains a few things. Might have to be a little cautious here._ ) "When you first came to me, you were just a pathetic geek out to save his own ass from the local bullies. But look at you now, all juiced up like this. Makes me proud of my abilities, I have to say."

Michael didn't take the bait. "Did that whole 'Amy is dead' thing just go completely over your head, or what? Because I never thought of you as being thickheaded before, Rack. And I don't believe you are now, either."

Rack shrugged slightly. "What can I say? Your girl wanted more from me than she could handle. It happens. But once she was ripe, her time was quickly past." Rack moved forward slightly. "You came here 'cause you wanted something?"

"I want lots of things, Rack. Amy alive again, for example." Michael's hands started glowing with power. "But right now, I wanna find out just how good your little upgrade really was. And whether or not the stuff I've learned on my own since then is gonna cut the mustard."

"You want a piece of me, blackberry?" Rack's hands also started crackling with magical energy.

Michael's grin was suddenly a grotesque and horrible thing to witness. "I want to take a little tour."

The magical clash of the titans started as Rack's lair became a battleground, bright lights and crashing noises easily seen and heard outside in the waiting room as most of the remaining customers finally ran for it. The few who were too out of it to notice just slipped further into their stupor and either ended up as collateral damage, or never had a clue later on what had happened all around them.

Not far away, Tara could feel the battle taking place as she and Xander hurried along. "We're too late, it's already started!"

"Damn it," Xander cursed. "I really hope Michael doesn't get himself killed!"

They arrived at the invisible lair just as the conflict finished. Tara and Xander subsequently went in after bracing themselves for the worst. The witch felt like she had just stepped into a sewer the moment she crossed the threshold; the dark magic here almost made her physically ill.

Harris noticed her expression and asked, "Tara, you okay?"

"Let's just find your friend and get out of here," Miss Maclay replied, sickened by the very nature of this place. "The sooner, the better."

But as soon as they ventured into Rack's private chambers, both man and woman were treated to a sight they'd never been expecting to see. Rack's corpse was floating in mid-air, and slowly ascended to the ceiling. Then Michael opened his eyes and he greeted them with a manic grin, "Hi, welcome at Rack's. Unfortunately he can't see you today."

"Michael?" Xander asked in disbelief. There was no longer any trace of makeup or lipstick on the other teen's face, and his eyes were completely jet-black. Before, he'd almost looked clownish; now, the guy just looked extremely menacing.

"The one and only," the victorious warlock replied. "Now, you'll have to excuse me. I'm gonna be busy for the next few minutes resurrecting Amy."

"What?" Tara demanded, completely flabbergasted. "You, you actually have that kind of power?"

"If all I wanted was a zombie, sure. With the rites of Uurthu for example, all I'd need is a pair of chicken feet, some fresh blood and the right star alignment to raise her. But that's not what I want, sister. I want the real deal. Hell, I want for none of this to have ever happened. I just want Amy safe and happy, and I'm willing to do whatever I have to in order to achieve that," Michael said zealously.

"What exactly are you-" Tara started to say.

"The Belial siphon spell."

Miss Maclay's eyes went wide, but Xander beat her to the punch upon hearing Michael's words. Wesley had explained everything about that spell to them a while ago, after all.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY NUTS?" Harris yelled at his former classmate.

"I'm not nuts, Xander. I've never been more sane in my entire life," Michael replied.

"He's right, you can't do this!" Tara said desperately. "You're risking the lives of six billion people if you do that spell-"

"I don't give a damn anymore about that," Michael said simply.

At that moment, Xander didn't know what to do. He knew himself for what he was, and he'd accepted his own limitations a long time ago. Alexander Lavelle Harris believed himself to be the sidekick in this business, and while he didn't exactly like it – nobody likes merely being the doughnut fetcher – he knew that it was his job to hold the fort until the super-powered types came to save the day at the last moment.

Except this time Xander knew how, apart from Tara, he was completely on his own. Buffy, Faith, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Wesley and Giles – all of them had no idea what was about to happen here and, besides, they were all either injured, absent or out of town. Not even Deadboy was around now to help him out.

For her part, the blonde Wiccan could tell that words weren't going to be enough anymore; they never were with the newborn fanatics like Michael. So she resolved to settle this the magic way, and incanted a binding spell. "Vincire!"

Green magic sprang forth from her hands, but Michael easily blocked it with a counter-spell of his own. Looking at his opponent, the young man ignited a fireball in his right hand like he'd done during Prom night.

Tara Maclay, just over 18 and a half years old, died screaming in agony as Michael tossed the fiery projectile at the Wiccan and it completely consumed her body and soul. Afterwards, there was nothing but a burn mark on Rack's floor to indicate that Tara had ever existed.

Xander just stared in disbelief, first at where Tara had been standing and then at Michael. "What, what did you just..."

"Hey, she started it," Michael defended himself. "Now look, Xander. I like you, and I get the feeling that under different circumstances, we really could have been friends. But I don't want any more interruptions, and I could do with a little pick-me-up. So try to look at it this way; pretty soon, none of this will have ever happened."

Xander backed away as Tara's killer came closer. It almost felt like a lifetime ago, but suddenly the memory of Wesley's prophecy earlier that night surfaced in the male teenager's mind. Given everything that had happened lately, Xander finally understood that psychic's words, and he felt the creeping horrors run down his spine. ( _Oh, God, oh no, oh crap..._ )

Then he couldn't move anymore, at a gesture from the warlock. "Michael, listen to me-"

The guy slammed his palm through into Xander's chest, and started to take what he wanted. When Michael was done, Harris was still alive and conscious but he collapsed to the floor, his legs unable to support his weight any longer and the rest of his body feeling as though it was frozen solid. He was only able to bear silent witness as Michael began his spell preparations, after magically downloading the required information into his mind.

Xander watched helplessly as Michael drew a sacred circle, and placed a photograph of Amy from his wallet inside it. The warlock then lit three white candles, and knelt down directly across from Xander.

( _No,_ ) Harris wanted to yell. ( _Don't do it! You'll kill us all!_ )

"I call on the elements of the universe," Michael intoned, beginning the spell. "Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Remove the harm done by your servants. As we gave you the moon, you give us the sun. As we gave you winter, you give us summer. As we gave you illness, you give us health. As we gave you darkness, you give us light. As we gave you death, you give us birth. Remove the harm done by your servants."

He repeated the incantation twenty-one times. All the while, Xander felt himself getting worse from what Czajak had done to him, his body slowly but surely starting to shut down and die. But like his first primitive ancestor that had come out of the ocean struggling to breathe, Harris never gave up; he desperately tried to move and stop what was about to happen.

Finally Michael said, "So mote it be!" The candles went out, and the male teen looked excited. "I think it's working, we're about to go back-"

The entire world stopped, for one timeless second.

"Kcab og ot tuoba er'ew, gnikrow s'ti kniht I," were the next words out of the warlock's mouth as, like a movie reel running in reverse, the Belial siphon spell began to do its job. Slowly at first, but then faster and faster with each new spin of the wheels of time.

According to the prophecy Robson had relayed from England it was, unfortunately, impossible that Michael would end up getting what he wanted; i.e. never to have taken Amy to meet Rack that night.

That whole thing about bringing about the end of man...possibly the sun would never burn hot in space and life on Earth would never be born, if the spell progressed into the past for billions of years.

Or maybe some other disaster would befall humanity, like the Old Ones never getting thrown out of this reality millions of years ago.

Perhaps the Judge would be successful in separating the righteous from the wicked six hundred years ago, and burn down everyone who possessed even an ounce of humanity.

Or, perchance, the knight who originally slew Acathla would be just a shade too slow at the critical moment.

It was impossible to predict, really. This particular roll of the cosmic dice by definition simply could not be predicted by anyone or anything.

History began to completely unravel – until for some unknown reason, everything abruptly came to a screeching halt mere minutes after the spell began.

* * *

**Mobile location, downtown Sunnydale**

**A frozen moment in history**

Xander remembered.

He was in some sort of strange blurry environment, Rack's magic den all around him but somehow out of focus, kind of like a bad photograph. He still remembered everything, though: Rack's death, Tara's murder, Michael doing that spell of his to try to bring about a new future with Amy alive and well; he remembered it all.

( _What's happening?_ ) Harris thought to himself in confusion. Xander slowly started to get up off the floor, no longer affected by what Michael had done to him. ( _How come I can still- _)

Before the young man could complete that thought, the air in front of him became visibly disturbed, almost like when Balthazar had killed the Mayor months ago. A demon subsequently manifested itself, but it looked unlike anything Xander had ever seen before. It had a human body, but with talons instead of feet, and a man's head with the horns and ears of a bull and the tusks of a boar around its mouth.

"You can see me now?" the demon asked, his eyes focusing on Xander. Then he nodded, "Of course you can. You're the one who sees everything, after all."

"Yes," the creature nodded again upon seeing the human's expression. "That prophecy was meant for and about you. You are the whipping boy raised by mongrels, even though that label doesn't really mean anything to you the way it might have."

He tried to speak but was unable to do so. ( _Can you hear my thoughts?_ ) Xander mentally asked, recalling that part of the prophecy. ( _Who are you?_ )

The demon leaned back his head and laughed. "I have had many names over the millennia, boy. Matanbuchus, Meterbuchus, Belhor, Beliar. But you know me as Belial, the creator of the siphon spell." He saw Xander's face and laughed once more. "Yes, THAT Belial. The demon lord of pride and arrogance, the fallen angel whose domain includes hostility, confusion and lust. And considering what you've been up to for the last few months with your woman, it's not surprising how you're not exactly pleased to see me."

( _What do you want? Whatever it is, don't expect me to-_ )

"You think you can pit your will against mine, boy? I induced the Egyptian sorcerers Jochaneh and his brother to oppose the Hebrews you know as Moses and Aaron, over three thousand years ago. I fought St. Francis of Paola during the 15th century, and lived to tell the tale. I even control the element of earth, with dominion over all earth elemental demons."

The demon laughed yet again. "Compared to all that, what are you apart from an ant with all the best intentions in the world?" Belial asked in genuine amusement.

( _A human being with free will,_ ) Xander shot back, determined not to be intimidated by the creature before him.

"Yes, yes, so you are," Belial said with a gleeful expression. "It's no wonder therefore how both sides hate you so much."

( _What?_ )

"Listen to me carefully, boy. Your actions over the last three years have not gone unnoticed. You disrupted a scheme that was initiated over ten thousand years ago, a setup that was forever altered when you twinned the Slayer line. Both the higher powers and the lower beings couldn't believe it at first how an insignificant worm like yourself actually affected the Grand Design, but the results spoke for themselves. Who knew what else you might accomplish? To use an analogy, they all felt that you were like a thermonuclear device that needed to be disabled, disarmed, and thoroughly dismantled. Courtesy of an ignored and ignominious death in Africa, some years hence."

( _I don't believe you,_ ) Xander thought steadfastly. ( _Why the hell would I ever want to go to Africa?_ )

Belial almost howled with laughter this time. "Do you really want to know how much of a joke you would have become, barely a few months from now? You ought to get down on your knees and thank me for creating that spell, boy. Because otherwise you would have lived out the rest of your short and miserable life lacking any shred of respect from your friends, not to mention losing your tactless female companion as well. Why else do you think you were pushed into the arms of that redheaded witch?"

( _No. That was just a stupid mistake that I made on my own. Nobody pushed me into anything,_ ) Harris refused to accept what he was 'hearing'.

"Believe that if you want, boy. But I alone am immune to my siphon spell, and that's how I know for a fact that in the previous timeline, a very different sequence of events took place after the night of that love spell. In essence you forgot your current woman completely after she left you, and you moved on to someone else. A love cursed from the start, and deliberately engineered to trigger your downfall before and after her mortal death," Belial explained delightedly.

( _If you know the future, then I've got a question for you,_ ) Harris deliberately put aside the concept that he might have lost Cordelia forever back then, trying to stay calm. ( _Assuming that Michael didn't do it, and I really kinda doubt he did, who originally performed that damn spell of yours – and why? There's a lot of people apparently who've been trying to find the answer to that._ )

"A good question, boy. But all I'll say is there were quite a few candidates and situations to choose from at that time. One of the Slayers wanted to save her sister from an untimely death. The vampire with a soul desired to resurrect the woman he loved. The witch you call your best friend couldn't bear to lose yet another lover as well as yourself. All of them had the means, the motive and the opportunity; so essentially, what does it matter who actually performed the deed?"

( _Why are you really telling me all this? _) Xander suddenly wanted to know. He honestly didn't want to think about the implications of everything he'd just heard, if this demon wasn't a liar. ( _I'm not on your side, so what do you get out of this whole explain-y deal?_ )

"Hmm, another good question. But you should know that given the constantly increasing levels of pride, arrogance, hostility and confusion in this world, it's only a matter of time before it becomes mine," Belial said smugly. "And so, boy, it behooves me to make sure that the world doesn't end before I'm ready to claim it. Thus, since your vampire friend will now fail to follow the path laid out for him and leave his cursed Slayer..."

The demon did the big dramatic pause thing. "I have to make a Champion out of you."

( _Say WHAT?_ )

"Like the prophecy said, sacrifice is inevitable. In this case, your woman will never have the normal life she craves alongside you and your descendants," Belial replied with what might have been a smirk. The tusks made it more than a little difficult to tell. Then with the small talk over, the demon gestured and the Gem of Amara came floating out of Xander's pocket.

( _What are you gonna do with that?_ ) Harris demanded. He'd forgotten that he had the damned thing, what with everything that had happened lately.

The horned demon didn't answer. He simply concentrated on the green gemstone, which started to glow. Altering its nature somewhat, Belial caused the gem to transfer its affinity to the living instead of the undead. Brighter and brighter the creation of Amara glowed, until it was too painful for Harris to look at it anymore. The floating gem was then released from the confines of the metal ring, which fell ignored to the ground, and the stone quickly embedded itself with cruel force deep into the palm of Xander's left hand.

The pain was excruciating, and Xander screamed in agony even if there was no sound accompanying it to be heard. Then the pain somehow disappeared, as if someone had simply flipped off a switch. ( _What-_ )

"Heed my warning and do not ever attempt to remove the Gem, boy. Because it's become part of you now, just as you have become part of it. I made it such that you'll not survive long without the source of your new invulnerability," Belial stated with an air of self-satisfaction. "Be aware also of how I do not gamble or bluff; such things may be the province of my colleagues Gapp, Asmoday and Vassago, but not myself. And now, it's time for you to go."

( _No, wait!_ ) Xander mentally yelled. But it was too late as Belial vanished, reality altered itself all around Harris, and history resumed once more with the now-altered youth and the blonde witch again confronting the distraught young warlock in Rack's hideout.

"I'm not nuts, Xander. I've never been more sane in my entire life," Michael said, giving the time-traveller a serious case of déjà vu.

"He's right, you can't do this!" Tara said desperately, right on cue. "You're risking the lives of six billion people if you do that spell-"

"I don't give a damn anymore about that," Michael said simply.

Xander knew what was going to happen now. He said, "It won't work, Michael. I mean, it DIDN'T work. You tried it just now, after you went off the deep end and murdered Tara. But the demon who originally created that spell? It stepped in and froze time, we had a pretty lengthy chat in Limbo and then it sent me here. To stop you, I guess. Please, believe me, I'm not kidding."

Both Tara and Michael stared at Xander before the warlock said in sheer disbelief, "You actually talked to Belial? THE Belial?"

"Yeah. It's his spell you're gonna use and he's planning to take over the world one day, so he won't let you do this. Besides, there's a prophecy. Like I tried to tell you before, you do that spell successfully and you end up causing 'the end of man'. So it's over, Michael. You won't get Amy back this way, trust me on that," Xander said pleadingly.

The warlock still looked unconvinced, and just like before, Tara took matters into her own hands before Harris could prevent it. But this time, after the annoyed warlock ignited that fireball in his hand, Xander acted without hesitation.

He grabbed Tara and held up his left hand. The fireball arrived; it hit the invisible shield present thanks to the Gem, and the deadly missile instantly bounced back the way it came.

It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that the young man was simply unable to raise his own shield in time. A column of fire thus incinerated the screaming male teenager, and afterwards Michael Czajak was nothing more than a memory.

"How did-?" Tara started to say, looking at the burn mark on the carpet. Then she stared at Xander, who had let her go by now. "That was you, wasn't it?"

Xander didn't reply, he just stared at his left hand numbly. He'd known it had to be done, but that didn't make it any easier to stomach the fact that he had crossed a line and killed a fellow human being. Even if it was self-defense, as well as to save Tara's life, Harris knew that his friends would never be able to look at him the same way ever again.

Ignoring Tara's urgent questions, Xander turned around and left Rack's lair. He needed to go back to the hospital and check on the wounded. Then he needed to go home with Cordelia, dig out that supply of Scotch Giles had hidden somewhere, and after she fell asleep get drunk to try to forget what he had now become.

Xander also knew that soon enough, he and his girlfriend would be departing their home town. He had no idea that a seer would eventually find them, and his duties as a Champion would begin within the City of Angels. Likewise he didn't know that Faith and her new Watcher would eventually join him, his future wife and their children, after Wesley died in his coma and Buffy, Angel and Giles finally arrived back home.

But Harris already suspected that the inevitable showdown with Belial would eventually result in only one of them walking away alive, afterwards.

Whether it would be the human or the demon, it was only a matter of time until Xander found out.

**The End**


End file.
